Pneumatised!

MM,

I went to the do jang last night. Our track suits are finally in, so yay! I picked up mine. Cool. I need a track suit to go running in and I needed a new spring jacket. It’s black with my do jang crest on the front and red lettering on the back.

I took the 7 p.m. class and then took the half hour crazy kicking class after. I was so tired for some reason. My knee was bothering me a little. It’s strange but sometimes it’s easier just to do cardio kicks rather than the traditional martial arts style. 🙁 Overall, though I prefer the martial arts style because it’s about proper technique and not just speed. You can build speed after you get the techniques right. I’ve seen many people who have speed, but shoddy technique.

Today is a beautiful spring day. 😀 About time. I feel more awake and I need to get work done. Thus, I’m stuck at home working, but have the cats curled up beside me. Hehe… it’s actually a nice life.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Saturday, March 25

Nathan and I went for a run. I have been needing to go for a run for a few days now. We planned on running the mile and a half route, but by the time I got to one mile I was crapping up in the side. I hate those. It was stupid really. I ate and drank – not plenty, mind you – about half an hour before running. For me, I don’t exercise well until about two hours after ingesting food or drink. My cramps was all my fault. I should have known better. But I did run a good mile before giving up totally and I wasn’t even that tired – I was just barely warming up. My time for a whole mile was 8 minutes 36 seconds. After the mile I had to walk the rest of the way home. Walking with a cramped side, it took me just under 12 minutes to cover a half mile. It occurs to me that running I cover the same distance in a third of the time it takes to walk. Not bad – it means that my running pace is quite efficient. That’s something to be happy about. 🙂

Sunday, March 26

Nathan and I headed out the gym in the afternoon. We walked there because I had just eaten only about thirty minutes earlier – I was not about to repeat the same thing as the other day and get side cramps. We did our weight training circuit – see the exercises below.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Back extensor

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening
Situps

Now considerably more time had elapsed since I ate, I did some cardio using the stepmaster machine. I did 21 floors in 10 minutes. After, we headed home by walking to Yonge and Bloor and from there running one mile. I’m glad to say I wasn’t cramping up nearly so bad as the other day. There was slight cramping, but not enough to make me want to stop running. I also slowed down a little bit just to be sure I did cramp up badly again. My time for the mile run was 9 minutes 12 seconds.

Now, some good news. I received a few days ago an email from my do jang saying that our track suits have arrived! Yay! I will now have a lovely new track suit to go running in. It will help keep me warm and hopefully be more comfortable to run in than my old high school soccer sweat shirt. It will also be stylish too. The front will have a small crest representing my do jang, World TKD, and on the back it will say “World TKD” in red lettering. The track suit is black. Cool! Tomorrow I’m going to go pick up mine. It’s been in for a few days. Of course, they arrived on a day when I couldn’t go to the do jang as I had to other places to be. Go figure.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Okay, I don’t play games very often because when I do I get obsessed with trying to beat them. However, my boyfriend plays games every so often. One day as he was telling me about the game, Half-Life 2, and the part where people say they won’t go to Ravenhome, I came up with this little chant:

“Hell no… we won’t go…
We won’t go… to… Ravenhome”

Sung in that taughting way that only children (and I) can, but very very slowly, I spooked my boyfriend. He wouldn’t let me sing the chant while he was playing. 😉 Though, I thought it might have been cool in the game. Hehe.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I have once again gotten around to updating my website by adding a few pages and modifying another. I’m very pleased to present some of my creative writing under the section “Spiritual Development”. The page “Creative Expression for Spiritual Growth” has been re-written (the former page is now “Visual Art for Spiritual Growth“) and from there you will be able to follow the links to my visual artwork and my creative writing. The creative writing section is new. Please check out this new section by going to http://www.brigidsflame.com/creative_expression.html and follow the links to “creative writing”. I hope you enjoy it.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

I went to the do jang for gumdo and taekwondo. After taekwondo, I headed to the gym to meet Nathan for our weight training workout.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Back extensor
Stomach curls

Free weights:
Pectoral fly (lie down with weight in each hand, arms extended; pull hands together at arm’s length in front of chest)
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I went to the do jang for taekwondo. I ended up helping the red belts practice all their patterns. After, I did the regular class. My knee was acting up for some reason, so I decided it was best to skip the half hour “crazy kicking class” (yes, it’s really called that) and go home and get some rest. There is no point in stressing out my knee and I probably need to go for a run again soon.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Today is Nate’s birthday! Happy birthday! As a birthday present, please go to his website and read his novel, Alice, and his other writing. He’s a wonderful up and coming author.

Today is also spring equinox. Yes, that means that Nate is a spring chicken… er, baby. This means we get double happiness today. Yay! Here’s to a good year ahead.

Blessings,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

Nathan and I went to my friend’s special hapkido training class at Deep Impactx. It was a good training session. We practiced some front falls and back falls. We also practiced some hapkido kicks, which are slightly different from taekwondo kicks. The kicks in hapkido are focused more on attacks to the lower body. Then we did a few hapkido self-defence techniques. We also did some breathing exercises and a little bit of meditation before and after class.

My friend is an excellent teacher with a background in a variety of martial arts from taekwondo to aikido as well as many different weapons techniques. To anyone interested in learning some practical self-defence, I would definitely recommend taking one of these classes. (Just click on the above link for more information.)

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

MM,

I went to the do jang finally and took gumdo and taekwondo class. There was only six people in gumdo class which is nice because it’s easier to concentrate and see the teacher. I haven’t practiced swords in awhile so it was good for me. After I took taekwondo class. The last time I was in was exactly two weeks, so of course I go to class and my Master feels like making us spar. But… I wasn’t too tired for it. My knee was bothering me a little bit, but not too much. This time I could kind of ignore it.

After I left the do jang I headed to the gym to meet Nathan.

Leg lifts
Pull-ups (again military and parallel)
Dips
Leg press
Hamstring flexor (called seated leg curls)
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Chest press
Bar pulls (works the muscles next to the scapulae on the back)
Pectoral press
Seated row
Shoulder fly
Shoulder lift
Tricep extensor
Back extensor
Stomach curls

Free weights:
Bicep curl
Two shoulder exercises (no idea what they are called; someone showed them to me)
Wrist strengthening

Side situps and stretching

It felt good to get some cardio and some weight training.

BB,
Cassandrah
Brigid’s Flame

Learning comes from all sources, everyone and everything – even your bitterest enemy. Knowing this, you already have the advantage.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress and wise woman
Brigid’s Flame