So the day before drill, I took my car to Custom Complete Automotive in Columbia, MO (the one next to the mall), for 90,000 mile maintenance. This included brake work and tire rotation. The next day, on my way to drill, my brakes failed completely and a WHEEL CAME COMPLETELY OFF OF MY CAR. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, because they were ery professional about getting my car fixed and paying for everything, but the fact is, this isn’t the first problem I’ve had with that garage. A few months ago, they failed to correctly connect my alternator to my battery, which resulted in my car dying on my way to work.

I’m afraid that I have to recommend that people find a different garage to service their vehicle.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been around, huh? Well, now that I’m back in college, I get a bit busy.

Last month I made a 2,000 mile road trip to Greensboro, NC, where I attended a two-day Hapkido seminar hosted by Essential Martial Arts. All of the bigwigs of the WHA were there, and I have to say that I was very impressed. Being an alumnus of Hwarang Do, I expected to see a watered-down version of what I already knew, much as I expect hapkido students would expect from a tae kwon do seminar. I was as much in error as they would be. Hapkido, although smaller in curriculum, more than stands on its own in the company of Hwarang do.
In fact, I have to say that the Korean masters were particularly impressive. The president of WHA, Master Jung, Tae, represented exactly what I would expect in someone who holds the title of “Master”; he had obviously completely internalized the principals and techniques of his art to the point that they were as natural to him as breathing. Even more impressive was Grandmaster Hwang, In-Shik.
When I first associated with the WHA, I read that Master Jung had made a special position for him in the organization. I had assumed that it was simply a political move in Korean martial arts; a gesture of respect to one of the senior masters. I didn’t have to watch him for very long, however, to see the truth: Grandmaster Hwang is truly a Grandmaster. I didn’t know that hapkido had men of his caliber, and I honestly wouldn’t know how to compare him to Lee, Joo Bang (which is about as high a compliment as I can imagine giving a martial artist).

Unfortunately, I only completed the first day and a half of training; by Sunday morning, my neck was literally completely fatigued from being thrown so hard so often. I had to roll on my side to get out of bed for the next four days, because I the muscles in the front of my neck were too weak to lift my head. Nonetheless, it was some of the best martial arts training I’ve ever had, and I hope to attend their winter event as well.

I will be attending the World Hapkido Association Summer Training Camp during the last week of August. Hopefully, my rib won’t bother me too badly. I’ll be taking my camera along, but with no one to film for me, I’m not sure what kind of footage I’ll be able to get.

Hey, all!

During the last two weeks, while was at Camp Dodge, IA, for Annual Training, I had the opportunity to attend several sessions of Bible Study hosted by a Baptist chaplain (always a bad idea for me, but what else was there?). I can’t say that I personally grew as a result of the sessions, but I did get some other people to think a little bit.

At one point, after we discussed the Beatitudes, we talked about how the Christ (and boy did “the Christ” raise a few eyebrows) generally avoided healing lots of people; instead focusing his time on His disciples. The chaplain agreed with the general consensus, that he didn’t know why the Christ wouldn’t heal as many people as possible (it was “a mystery”). I proposed the following:

The Christ is both fully human and fully Divine. Consider yourself in His position–you know that in order to fulfill your destiny and save the human race, you must soon face a final temptation between rulership of the Earth, and death. Would it be easier to face that temptation have spent weeks discussing spiritual truths with you disciples and preparing them for stewardship, or having spent weeks being adored as the Son of God by grateful crowds?

Also, we discussed the disciples as the “salt of the Earth.” The other students actually pulled references out of their Bibles that talked about salt as “tasting good” and “useful for melting ice.” (sigh)
Let’s put aside for a moment the idea that “melting ice” was really a big problem in first century Judea: Salt was incredibly valuable. Wages were often paid in salt–that’s where the expression “worth his salt” comes from. Back then, you could grow your own produce, you could raise your own livestock… but salt had to be mined. And unlike precious metals and gemstones, salt was necessary to live.
Today, we can create sodium chloride artificially; we even get too much of it in our diet. Back then, diseases of salt-deficiency were quite common, and even deadly.
As for salt “losing its saltiness” and being “trampled underfoot,” I actually had to point out that “saltiness” is a chemical property of sodium chloride and cannot be lost; the Christ was speaking hypothetically. However, if salt did lose its saltiness, it would just be a rock (not the fine granules we see in the supermarket. It would be trash, and the Jews would treat it like middle-easterners have always treated trash: throw it out the window. It will either rot away, be blown into the desert, or be trampled underfoot (in the case of a rock) until it disappears into the roadway.

Of course, I really raised eyebrows when they started talking about the infallibility of the Bible. Sorry, I don’t worship the Bible, and I don’t need it to be infallible. The group asked me for an example of a contradiction in the Bible: I pointed out that the Christ is not only given two different genealogies, but that they are both patrilineal genealogies. Oh, the aneurisms and logical contortions that ensued. We finally “agreed to disagree.” Ahem.

Unfortunately, I broke a rib while I was there, which will definitely interfere with my training. Also, it looks as though I’ve won an all-expense paid vacation to the cradle of civilization next year, but nothing’s been finalized yet–it’ll depend on what Obama does between now and then.

At was actually fairly fun–at least the part I participated in (I broke my rib on day three–of sixteen). I do wish that I had protested my M-4 qualification score; there was an obvious computer error. I wasn’t that worried about a few promotion points this year–and I know I’m a good shot–but it turns out that that qualification was used to determine who would go to Squad Designated Marksman school before we deploy. Oh, well; the new fiscal year starts in September, so hopefully I’ll be able to qualify again soon.

I was worried about taking electronics, like my video camera, along–but other people did. Maybe I will next time…

Lindsey Lohan in a European parody of the Harry Potter movies. Probably better than the real ones.