I needed to run over to my hometown for a few hours last night to visit my mom. On my return, all during the two-hour drive back, I thought of several topics to blog about. I think I came up with four or five good subjects. But once I got home, at exactly midnight, and sat down in front of my computer to write something up before going to bed, my mind was blank. I can’t remember a damn thing I thought about all the way home.

All that free time to think of all this writing to do and when I’ve got my fingers on the keyboard, nothing comes back to my mind.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

The boys and I saw part of a TV program showing a martial arts expert breaking bricks. Calfgrit7 asked me to stop on that channel to see what was going on. We’ve seen part of this show before, but I don’t know the name of it. They use science to check sports facts and myths (it’s not Mythbusters), and this particular episode was checking if shouting or grunting made any real difference in an athlete’s power.

We watched a guy break 10 concrete bricks with his forearms with and without a yell. He did better with the yell. In discussing what we were seeing, why he wanted to yell, I mentioned that I had broken concrete bricks, myself. Calfgrit7 was interested in this. I said, “I think we have a video of my black belt test.” I looked through our family videos, and sure enough, there was my Tae Kwon Do black belt test tape.

I took it off the shelf and pushed it into the VCR. I earned my black belt in TKD just a couple months before Calfgrit7 was born, and though I tried to keep up some self training at home for a couple years, I haven’t done any real training in the years that he can remember. So watching this video was a first for him seeing his dad doing “cool stuff” like fighting (sparring) and breaking things with punches and kicks.

He saw me defending against an attacker, and he was impressed when I knocked or twisted the guy down. I explained that this was just a test to show that I knew the moves for how to defend myself, and that we weren’t really hitting hard enough to hurt each other. But then the video came to the sparring — actual fighting, with padding on our heads, torsos, fists, and feet. I was fighting two guys at once, and we could hear the audience around the camera cheering me on. It was actually pretty exciting to watch. I mean, it’s no Ultimate Fighting Challenge in the Octagon, but it was me, Calfgrit7’s daddy in action.

And then he saw me fall down — hey, I was fighting two guys at one time, who both already had their black belts! — and he laughed. Okay, enough of the fighting . . . I fast forwarded the video to me getting ready to break two concrete bricks. At the time of the video, I had only broken one brick at a time before, twice. In the video, I approached the bricks, held up by two concrete cinder blocks, and got into position for a downward smash with my right hand. I took a couple of slow line up moves, and then stood up and back away.

“Are you going to break them, Daddy,” Calfgrit7 asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m just getting ready.”

I was intently watching my face on the video. This was the first time I’ve watched this since right after the test, but I could remember what was going on in my head and body at that time. For one thing, I was very tired, exhausted. Before the bricks were set up, I had already been doing calisthenics, maneuvers, defenses, and sparring for half an hour, in front of an audience (the part I hated the most). I knew I couldn’t let the tiredness make me sloppy or else I’d just smack the top brick and hurt myself.

In the video, I stepped up to the bricks again, and got into position. Watching the video, I was getting excited again. I glanced over at Calfgrit7 and saw him watching intently. I noticed even Calfgrit3 was watching now.

My video self struck down and smashed through the two blocks with a strong yell. Hearing the applause on the video made me feel proud. (I don’t remember hearing the applause live. I was very much in a zone.)

“Wow,” Calfgrit7 said.

I beamed at him.

“Have you ever broken as many as that guy on the sports show?” he asked.

“Uh, no.” I said, hearing some of the hot air hissing out of my ego balloon. “I only broke two.”

And then everyone’s attention went elsewhere.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Calfgrit7’s first grade class was part of a show where the kids stood and sat on risers on the auditorium stage. It was for the end of the school year, and all the audience was parents. They sang several songs, did little “hand dances,” and were just cute as hell.

Some of the kids seemed to be loving the whole performance, some seemed very stage shy, and some seemed distracted, looking around the stage and audience without really paying attention to what they were supposed to be doing. And all the time, there camera flashes from the audience. I looked around the auditorium and laughed at all the parents filming and snapping pictures — I was right there doing it too.

The kids sang about saying “Hello” in many languages, they sang about their school being great (to the tune of “It’s a Small World”), they sang about eating a mosquito burrito, and they sang “We’re All In This Together” from High School Musical. I’ve heard that song before, but having heard it from a bunch of 7 year olds, my son among them, it’s now got a reserved spot in my heart. God, but they were adorable.

We made sure Calfgrit7 saw us in the audience, and we exchanged waves a couple times. After the show, we congratulated him, and he seemed very happy and proud for having performed. That’s great. He didn’t look like he was totally comfortable up there on stage, especially compared to some of the “real performers,” but he said he enjoyed doing the show.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I mentioned in a previous post that Calfgrit7 is interested in Pokémon card game (mostly just for the cards). We’ve played a few partial games, and I can give a play test report now.

Overall, it’s a fun game. The general concept is that each player is a Pokémon trainer, and they toss out their various Pokémon to fight each other to unconsciousness. Each player has a deck of exactly 60 cards full of Pokémon creatures, energy (to “power” the creatures), and items, trainers, and other accessories to support the creatures. The decks I bought come with cardboard, coin-like counters to keep track of damage to the Pokémon, and special plastic “coins” to flip for heads or tails.

When I played Magic: the Gathering (MtG), the deck boxes you bought for the game came with completely random cards. That was intentional and part of the gimmick of the game — you had to trade and collect to build a deck to play with. But these Pokémon decks I bought come already organized for play. This is a great thing. You can start playing immediately by buying just one deck. The pre-built deck is not great — after only a few games I see how I’d like to improve my deck — but it is functional and full usable.

The instructions are pretty straight forward, but one thing bugged me because I couldn’t figure it out: the prize cards. The only thing the instructions say about the prize cards is that you are supposed to lay out six of them before play starts, and when you knock out an opponents Pokémon, you take a prize card. Where do the prize cards come from? Do I pick them from my deck, or draw them randomly from the top, can I see them? And when I knocked out my opponent’s Pokémon, did I take from his prize cards, and vice versa? (I think my time playing MtG, with ante and bet cards, messed up my ability to understand this concept.)

The first couple of games we played, we skipped the prize card thing because I really couldn’t figure it out. I eventually found the explanation on the Pokémon game Web site, after having to really search for it. I learned that the prize cards are drawn randomly from the top of your deck, and you get one of them (of your own) when you knock out your opponent’s Pokémon.

So I had finally come to understand all of the basic instructions for the game. But then there are some specific instructions on the cards that could use a little clarification. There’s probably some clarification and errata on the Web site, but I haven’t looked into it yet. If I was playing the game regularly, with serious gamers, I’d look into the info. But just playing with Calfgrit7 once every few days (and usually not having time to even actually finish a game), it’s not worth the effort.

Even though the prize card rule confused me, and some occasional card text is vague, I like the game. I’m considering getting my adult game group into the game for a few plays. I need to play against someone who can be real competitive. Calfgrit7 mostly just likes the Pokémon creatures, and he shoves any new ones he gets into his deck without knowledge or care that he doesn’t have the appropriate energy cards to power the creatures.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com