Martial Arts

BJ doesn't like me to tell people, but he has a black belt in jiu jitsu.  He doesn't like me to tell people because he thinks I'm going to try to make him fight to prove his love for me or something.  Putting up with my snoring is proof enough of his love, though.  No need for fisticuffs.

Anyway, we started looking for martial arts classes for the girls, and holy ninjas is it expensive to take Tae Kwon Do - they wanted $160 a MONTH for the two girls to take lessons.

Um, what?

Furthermore, BJ has all kinds of ideas about the purity of the art and the commercialism of modern TKD and whatnot, and if you're really worried about it I'm sure he'd be happy to explain it, but basically we couldn't find a school around here that he was happy about.  He went to tour one downtown (where he's going to take Aikido), and when I looked at their website all I saw were middle aged men.

"When you go there," I said to him before he left, "Find out if there are children.  Particularly girl children.  I don't want our daughters to be the only girls and the only children in the whole place."

He kind of scoffed at my protectiveness, and I said, "Shut up, I've seen The Karate Kid.  I don't know if they're Mr. Miyagis or those other bad guys."

"I'm pretty sure the Cobra Kai aren't in Lafayette," he said.

"You don't know."

I suggested that there was a lot he could teach the kids himself, at home, the same way my mother taught me how to cook and my aunt tried to teach me to sew (sorry, Julie, I'm hopeless).  If people can homeschool their kids through high school, surely we can homeschool jiu jitsu.  He responded that the equipment is really expensive.  "I don't know," I said, "if we're saving $160 a month it shouldn't take long to make it up."

And that's how we got our very own in-home dojo, and how BJ started teaching the girls martial arts on Friday afternoons.  He got them outfits* gis and obis and some padded things that they can beat on each other with.  Mary Grace's obi (belt) didn't come, though, and then this happened...

(* Apparently they are NOT outfits).

B.J.: gis

  gies?

 me: ghee is clarified butter

  gee is an expression of surprise

  I dunno

 B.J.: well, one is a gi

 me: anyway, ok... Jack and I will plan to go out and get pizza and a movie while you're practicing, for family fun night?

4:03 PM B.J.: sounds great

 me: ok, cool

 B.J.: did MG's belt arrive?

 me: there is a small box, that's probably what that is. Did she level up already?

4:04 PM B.J.: it isn't a video game :)

 me: YKWIM  (that's "you knew what I meant")

 B.J.: no, her gi was missing a belt

  she wore the one I got for aikido

 me: I think we should do it the old fashioned way - and never wash their belts.

  Ohhhh

  it will darken with the blood of their enemies!

 B.J.: you never wash their belts anyway

 me: right,

 B.J.: haha

 me: the playground will run red with blood!

4:05 PM B.J.: they aren't klingons either

 me:  well, no, not if they haven't leveled up.

 B.J.: haha

 me: Klingons are at least brown belts

 B.J.: depends on the klingon

 me: good point.... I have to blog this now

4:06 PM B.J.: well okay then

 me: lol