March 3, 2014

updates...
school finished yesterday for the last real term.  Still waiting on one grade, but should be another straight A term.  Passed the research class so now the last term is going to be finishing my research project and defending my project.  Should be pretty easy as I am confident with what I have put together so far.  Then I am done. Will have a masters degree and the debt to prove it, question is now what to do with it...

I have started working at Smart Karate teaching martial arts to kids.  I think through them I am going to be able to get a black belt in karate, although to be honest I'm not sure what that would be worth at this point in my martial arts progression.  Some of the knowledge, self-defense and weapons stuff is fun, but a lot of the abstract and fancy kicks that they teach for the higher level belts is really not that useful.  Plus having the belt doesn't get me more MMA matches... but who knows.  Would be fun to have, but would prefer one in BJJ.  That might take a few more years, or a decade.

The dive job has been going better since the new captain, George has been handling more of the admin duties.  Staffing seems to be running better as well since they removed one of the divers and replaced him with a string of new people, they never seem to last that long.  One of the current divers is going to be sailing a boat that he made from Hawaii to the mainland.  When he takes off I am going to move to three days a week from two.  But at the moment he is waiting for a window in the weather.  Between that and Smart Karate I am almost to a real number of hours working in a week.  Not quite, I  want to ease myself into it.

I think I will try to get myself one more fight to try and redeem the loss from January.  Maybe in May or June when I can really dedicate myself to work and training without the third distraction of school.  Not sure what kind of schedule I will have once I start the hunt for a real job or something that might use either Chinese or psych so I want to get another fight in while I know I have the time for a good training camp.

Last real update is that Marina and I will be moving together and got word today on an apartment on liholiho street.  Going to be signing the papers in a couple days, trip to the big island to see my mom and then time to move in.  The Robert place house is starting to wrap up and slowly cleaning out the house.  At least stocking the kitchen should be pretty easy.  Pics of the new place to come.

January 25th, Blaisdal Arena, MMA Fight, Not So Good

Last night did not go so well.  Fight ended at the close of the first round.  At the moment I am still not entirely clear what the actual decision/reason was.  I don’t really remember the course of events after the middle or so of the fight.  I took a couple good right hooks to the side of the head, evidence of that in lumps, tenderness and purple/bruised ear on the left side of my head.  The inside leg kick was landing, but I wasn’t linking that to anything else.  Instead of taking advantage of him being off balance and closing in for a follow-up combination, I think I was glad that I bought myself a moment to try and get my head together to avoid another hook.  Looking back I needed to try and counter that hook, spent so many rounds and pad time working and coming in on the punch to counter with the straight right or the 2-3-2, but just couldn’t bring myself to feel confident enough to step in and throw with the fear that the right hook was somehow going to double up.  As I think about it now I am pretty sure the straight right would have been clean down the middle.  Must have been really frustrating to be in my corner after all that work to see me hold back that combo. 

            As the fight came to an end, I’m not sure what exactly happened.  I was pretty sure the round had to close to over, thought I heard the 10 second bell.  Then the ref was in front of me; I thought he was directing me to the corner.  I asked him something, either; is the round over and I think I say him waiving off the fight so I tried to ask why the fight was over.  But I stress I think that’s what happened because I am really not sure.  Then I realized there was a fair amount of blood coming down my face, mostly my nose.  I don’t really remember from there to the locker room.  But it was straight to the bathroom to bleed all over the floor.  Between myself and Shojin (fighter and training partner) who was the fight before (broke his nose) the bathroom looked pretty nasty.  Possible murder scene and the cheap bathroom towels did not help to absorb anything.  Later one after we were cleaned up and head back together, Shojin was trying to clean up the mess we had left, but started leaking out the nose faucet, dripping once for every drop he cleaned.  It seemed to sum up the night.  After a little while, everything comes back into focus.  Spent some time getting myself cleaned up.  Went out had a beer.  Felt much better.

            I’m trying to figure out why I didn’t counter.  I know was backed down a bit by the power.  I was expected him to be quick, but was rocked pretty early by one of the hooks and was afraid that if I got hit with another it might not put me out, but was going to leave me badly dazed.  I was also waiting for the left straight to follow-up, might have but the right side feels pretty clean so either it didn’t happen or it missed.  I am used to counter punching, but when the power in his shots backed me down, I wasn’t confident enough to risk the counter.  On offense the leg kick was working great, the one head kick was good, but didn’t press the punches or take advantage of him being off balance. 

            The other thing was different was that I wasn’t looking forward to the fight.  It was different in the prefight.  Usually the week before I get really nervous/anxious about a week to a couple days out, but as the day draws I also get excited and look forward to stepping out there.  This fight I was excited.  It felt more about getting it done so that I could move on to the next thing.  Like it was something that I do, I’m going to keep doing, but this one just didn’t feel like something I wanted, more felt obligated, to myself and for the people I was training with.  I think the biggest disappointment comes from letting down the coach and the team.  You want to represent your team and show what you and the gym can do.  Getting TKO’d at the end of the first round doesn’t really do that very well.  It happens.  I would like to find a way to get that fire back that I had at the last fight.  I think need to change my training a little.  I wanted more diverse training partners more proper MMA focus to bring the Muay Thai and BJJ together.  I definitely do not want to finish on a loss. 

            Maybe with school and the job pressure and everything else it was too much.  I don’t know, but next term with school winding down, working a martial arts job, and less distractions I can get my head back to where I want it to be.

12/08/2013

Yesterday was the BJJ blue belt test at the UFC gym in Honolulu.  Finally, I have been able to test for my blue belt and passed the test.  In reality it was pretty easy and more of knowledge review that real test.  All 17 people who took the test passed.  Although after my last performance at the triple crown grappling tournament, it would seem that staying in the white belt competition group might be better since I didnt do so well in that group.  Then I would have been near the top of group, now I am back at the bottom of the blue belt ranks.

The one good thing that comes from this is the sparring groups that take place on Sunday, although that is my surf day.  The groups usually are looking for blue and higher to make sure that everyone has at least some skill to make it more fun for everyone.

The last couple weeks has been a real heavy focus on my jujitsu, now its time to get back to more complete MMA training.  I am waiting for a match confirmation to fight on the Destiny card in January.  I am looking forward to training at HMC with a more MMA focused coach along with Arthur from M-1 and the grappling at UFC.  Between the three gyms I think its a really good dynamic and mix of styles.  The last couple times grappling I have felt like my control and submission flow has been a lot smoother.  Although I still have not been finishing as well as I would like, if I can work on holding positions and transitions then the MMA ground should be a lot better and wont have to worry about being on the ground as much.  Also will make getting back to my feet a lot easier.

Have an interview with some people at a group called smart karate next week, maybe I can start teaching some martial arts as well as training it all the time...

A long Weekend, 11/25/2013

This past weekend ended being rather packed.  Saturday was the Hawaii Triple Crown BJJ tournament.  I entered both the white belt gi and intermediate no gi at 137-149.  I weighed in at 149.9, a good start, but that was about the only good thing.  I lost all three of my matches.  Although I did get third in the no gi division... there were only competitors though.  On the plus side, I was not submitted, but lost on points.  Sport juijutsu is not quite my game.

The gi match was somewhat questionable in my mind and if it had been scored by fight rules I think I should have won.  I had the only submission attempt and was pretty close.  I lost 4-2 on points and ran out of time before I could capitalize on the position gained from the sub attempt.  My opponent went on to win that division.

In the no gi, I lost the first match, he was better.  Second match though ended going to a second OT round and lost on a take down.  0-2.  Spent the whole match trying to break my opponents guard and was just somewhat frustrating.

I realize that sport BJJ is not my specialty, if that had been MMA I would have been happy to stay in guard and hit them.  Much easier to break guard when you can punch people, but it was a good experience.  The only real frustration comes from how short matches are and how long the event is for $80.  Spent the better part of 6 hours there for a total of 20 minutes.  Even if I had won all my matches it still would only have been less than an hour of match time.  The NAGA is better attended, it may be worth it, but then I am not sure how much more I want to lose on points...

Then Sunday was the Xterra half marathon at Kuolua Ranch.  I was really hoping that my knee would hold up on the trails better than it did on the pavement... but it didnt. I felt like I was putting in a really good time, first 10 miles in 80 minutes, holding about that 8 minute mile pace on the trails and making up for the slow start that comes from too many people packed on tight trails and bottle-necking.  But about mile 8/9 I started feeling that ache in my knee and by mile 10 I couldnt keep pushing without knowing that last time I was unable to run for weeks afterwards.  The uphills were fine, but the trails had some really steep downhills that I couldnt handle and had to walk.  The last 3 miles took 45 minutes.

The most annoying part though ironically was all the support people were trying to offer as they went by.  At first it was nice, "you can do it" "your almost there" etc.  But I wasnt tired.  I wasnt walking because I was fatigued, my knee couldnt handle it and I was thinking "aaahhh I can out run all of you, I dont need encouragement to overcome fatigue I need a cortisone shot".  Anyway I walked most of the last 3 miles, running up the hills and walking down and jogged through the finish at 2:08:00.  I really would have liked to been able to finish at the 1:40-1:50 pace I was on, but hope that I was able to slow enough to be able to recover faster than the 4 weeks it took after the last one.

To that end I am going to meet with the PT today and see what they have to say.  My right knee can handle it fine, so there should be a way to get the left one to work.  I just hope it can be in shape quick so I can run to keep my cardio up for my next MMA fight.  Unlike this weekends events, that one I am not going to lose.

A self analysis

Cultural Values:

A Self-Analysis

Brian Long

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Schwartz proposed ten separate value types that can be used to measure individual value preferences (Smith, Bond, & Kagitcibasi, 2006).  The ten value types, created from a list of 56 original values, can help to measure values at an individual level and then be used to extrapolate trends to be evaluated at a national level.  Finding a way to evaluate the meaning of values and beliefs becomes challenging when one considers that ‘being a good friend’ or ‘expressing love’ can take on different forms in different cultures.  Finding equivalence in ideas and value expression is the first step in attempting large-scale multinational or cross-cultural comparisons.  However, before one begins to examine others, it is useful to have deep understanding of oneself.

Using Schwartz’s 10 value dimensions, this author will perform a self-analysis.  Using the broad bipolar horizontal and vertical dimensions to start, this author would place himself in the corner of openness to change and self-enhancement (Smith et al., 2006).  However, there are several values in other areas that are very important and should be included in this author’s self-analysis.  Each value and its importance to this author will be examined in turn.

1.              Power.  Concern over public image, social power or recognition has never been very important to this author.  While wealth is always nice to have, it is not worth the endless pursuit that some of this author’s peers have sacrificed to achieve.  Overall, there are many other values more important than power.

2.              Security.  This author is split on the values that comprise security.  Aspects such as clean and reciprocation of favors are very important.  However, other aspects, such as sense of belonging, are not a high priority.  Having lived among cultures where it was made clear this author was an outsider and enjoying that life, belonging in a place is what you make.

3.              Conformity.  While self-discipline is important, this author would not include that value as part of conformity.  Conformity is not a value that this author embodies or believes to be beneficial.  Breaking the norm helps advance society in new directions, not always the best directions, but challenging traditions is what leads to new breakthroughs in thought.

4.              Tradition.  Similar to conformity, tradition is something that does not hold much value to this author.  Just because its tradition doesn’t make it good, it makes it old.  Some traditions are great and help build a connection to the culture and history of a people, others are held on to long beyond their usefulness.

5.              Benevolence.  This value group is very important and where this author would place self-discipline.  Honesty, loyalty, responsibility and friendship are values that this author tries to embody on a daily basis.

6.              Universalism.  Growing out of benevolence, universalism comes naturally; one cannot exist without the other.  Taking a broadminded view, equality and social justice, along with appreciation of nature are reasons why this author decided to move from China to Hawaii.  Life in China was an amazing experience, but the call of nature and enjoying the natural world in which you live was more important than the financial opportunities available.

7.              Self-Direction.  This value is the most important on the list.  It embodies the majority of the driving factors that have affected life decisions this author has made.  Choosing own goals, curious, freedom; these values motivated this author to move to China, study psychology, and engage in the lifestyle currently enjoyed.

8.              Stimulation.  This is a close second to self-direction.  Education and self-enhancement come first, but only as long as life can be exciting and fun.  It is the fun factor that makes the hard work worthwhile. 

9.              Hedonism.  While stimulation and self-direction are similar to hedonism, it lacks the self-regulation needed to achieve success.  Pleasure, for this author, comes from success and achievement, not simply for indulgence sake.

10.           Achievement.  This value would rank third in this author’s hierarchy of values.  Hard work, self-discipline and an exciting life payout in achievement.  While learning a new skill is a worthwhile endeavor, intelligence, ability and success are very important.  There is only so long this author can spend in a pursuit that does not yield some sense of achievement.

Classifying oneself on Schwartz’s value scale is difficult, trying to extend this to a culture of diverse individuals would be even more challenging.  Taking that beyond to multicultural comparisons is a trying task at best.  The research that has been put forward so far shows great convergence on the overall meaning behind each of the values measured by Schwartz, but more research will be needed to continually update and improve cross-cultural comparisons.

References

Smith, P.B., Bond, M.H., & Kagitcibasi, C.  (2006).  Understanding social psychology across cultures: Living and working in a changing world.  London: Sage Publications.

A day after 30

So its the day after my 30 birthday, I wanted to write something but really have no idea what to put down.  Last night was pretty low key.  A nice dinner at Teppanyaki place with Vieve, Robyn, and Marina.  Seems this year instead of one big day there are going to be several events spread over two weeks.  Last night dinner, tonight full moon surfing (although that would probably happen birthday or not), tomorrow going to see some people I train with fight both MMA and Muay Thai, then next weekend is going to be an overnight camping excursion.  So even though its spread out, it is far more than could be done in one day.

School is going well, but with the time demands of training and study it feels like things are going so fast.  I moved out here almost 10 months ago, the last year plus has been more new experiences and challenges than I can really comprehend. Guess I got to pack it all in now before things start to fall apart and I cant do any of the sports I enjoy any more.

09/10/13

A quick update of some things that have been happening over the last couple days...

Last weekend I got my third stripe on my white belt.  I think with this and a couple more months of solid training I will be able to take my blue belt test either in December or the time after that.  I think my travel schedule is going to mess with my training a little, but its going to be good for the body to have a month off from getting battered.  My jiujiitsu seems to be coming along, the no gi is getting much better, but I am enjoying the gi as well.

I have been surfing a bit more and starting to get a least a little better, although that seems to be coming along slower than my BJJ.  Yesterday was nice, not a lot of waves, but the water was really calm.  Marina has been helping quite a bit, although I get the feeling that she enjoys watching me spill as much as she enjoys helping me get better.  Now its more about doing everything that I know I should be rather than learning new skills.  I am starting to see how, if one were good at this, surfing could be pretty fun.  Its also way easier to go out and do than skiing.  With the water there are no lift tickets, in Hawaii at least you are so close that you dont have to take a day to get to the mountain and can just get out and go on to whatever you have to do.

I am slowly starting to get ready for the half marathon I have coming up in Nov.  Its really hard to motivate to run with the all the other trainings that I am trying to get in.  But my knees are doing ok with the light runs, 3-4 miles.  Just need to get that up to 8-10 without any real discomfort and I will feel good about the race and not worry about my knee.  Why cant the muscle conditioning in one sport transfer completely to other sports?

Its time to get ready to head to the gym.  Oh and school is...going again.  Fuck Im busy...