camwyn | Valid things I learned

about the martial arts by watching Hong Kong action movies:

There's nothing wrong with a low center of gravity, especially if you differ greatly in height or weight from the person you're fighting.
Hitting somebody else in an area other than the flabby parts hurts.
Getting hit, even in the flabby parts, hurts.
Blocking a hit hurts, but not as much as just being hit without taking some kind of defensive action.
You're going to lose a lot, no matter how skilled you are; learn how to recover early on in your training, and keep practicing.
Stuff that looks like it ought to hurt doesn't always hurt, and stuff that looks like it should be a piece of cake to walk off often hurts like hell.
There will always be someone who is better than you. And if you ever get better than that person, there will be someone who is better than them. And even if you beat that person, there will be someone who is luckier than you.
If you're dealing with someone who is bigger than you, stronger than you, and better trained than you, fighting to win is probably not as good an option as fighting not to lose. When in doubt, go for a draw.
If you're going to go down no matter what you do, take the other guy with you.

Those last two were validated last night when my karate instructor saw me in the push-hands exercise with a guy six inches taller than me, the approximate mass of a block of carved granite, and several years of Shotokan training. (We're not Shotokan, we're Isshin Kenpo if I remember right.) I got him off balance maybe twice, and got pushed off balance myself more often than not. Thing is, every last one of my instincts cries out for some action to be taken if I'm going to lose - so I wind up grabbing at the arm or shoulder or shirt or neck. By damn, if I'm going to hit the floor, he's gonna come with me!... anyway, my instructor saw this as the other guy was laughing, and said that if you know you're gonna lose you should go for the draw. I said something about 'it's good enough for Jackie!', and they both laughed, but nobody said it was wrong. I thought that was cool.

Probably gonna test for yellow belt Monday, unless my academic class runs over-long. It'd better not. I'm looking forward to this. If it does, well... Thursday.

Oh, and I start Mandarin classes on Wednesday. Go, me.