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.