So March 24th I took the GAMSAT and got stomped on. That's the short version.
Long version: The test came in three parts with breaks in between, all up it took 8 hours to do and by the end is quite exhausting. I learned how valuable the 10 minutes reading time is before test day. I did some practice tests with exam conditions and realised that it was a huge test and time was VERY MUCH the biggest constraint. Of course there are some questions that I can't answer with a non-science background and only introduction level study (such as chemistry diagrams without keys).
Anyway, for Section I we had many passages to read each having 4-6 questions related to it. I was happy to see a PERT diagram on page 1 since that required 0 thinking for me to answer correctly. In the 10 minutes though I did have a read of the first 2-3 passages with the aim of answering the questions without re-reading too much. This boosted me through the first 15-20 questions giving me enough time to finish the section and go to the toilet so I didn't use precious Section II time. I'm part of a forum for med-school hopefuls (the japanese word '希望者' is ringing in my head so I translated that instead of trying to remember the english word LOL). Overall I think the questions were quite fair, I always struggle with poetic language but it didn't seem too abstract and so I had one constant pace throughout the section.
Section II was where I start to weaken, essays have always been a weak area. Nevertheless the list of topics was engaging so I managed about 2.5 pages for both essays in one hour. My first topic was along the lines of a government that is responsible for all decisions for the good of the individual becomes more tyrannical than one that does for it's own benefit. I agreed with this statement and my argument was largely based on the conscience of the tyrants. About 22 minutes in the moderator made an announcement that there was 30 minutes to go, I saw the clock and saw he was wrong but panicked regardless and began writing a conclusion. He corrected himself after about 30 seconds, luckily I'd only written a sentence so I managed to continue my final paragraph before concluding. The second topic was regarding love, I chose a quote that captured the changing expression of love as the lovers age. Some people on the forums seemed unhappy with this topic, I wasn't particularly concerned since it was just as difficult than any other topic for myself.
With those sections done I headed out for the one hour break before Section III and got a few text well wishes and texted my friend who was also sitting the test that day. It took a while but figured out that we were actually at different venues, which meant that as intimidating as it was seeing the multitude of people sitting the exam at this venue there were still more at others. Graduate medical schools have roughly one place per 10 applicants, they really do get nothing less than the cream of the crop.
Going back into Section III I was relaxed and ready but I don't remember too much of what happened because that Section was just mind-blow intense. So much material to read and then think about that I ended up guessing about 20 questions out of 110. People keep insisting that a science background wouldn't have helped much in that section. My guess is these are people of science background and being non-science myself I can say quite fairly that a science background does at least help you understand the question quicker. In this section where time was a constraint on answering more questions it means that those who complete the earlier questions in half the time I did could complete the paper whereas I did/could not.
Based on my own perspective of my performance and in the face of the 1:10 place:applicant ratio I walked out of that exam already thinking about next year's exam and what I would do differently. The real post-exam blues came later when I've now begun to look for work and realised that I'll be in this situation for at least two years, two years trying to get in. Needless to say there are people who were accepted at later stages in life but somehow the big picture optimism wasn't and isn't enough.
Nevertheless I'm hoping to join a study group in Sydney and to better equipped and motivated for next year. The results come out at the end of May and I will still apply, I declare that my acceptance into medical school on whatever score I receive will be pure miracle. Let's see how the dice of fate falls...
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
GAMSAT Exam Month
So the month of march has started and I'm still feeling underprepared. This is the last phase of my study where i now start writing daily essays in ernest and working through exam questions.
Up until now I've been mainly focusing on science to create somewhat of a base for myself. I don't think it's complete but it'll have to do, it takes time to not only go through the textbooks but understand them also. The material I did cover I'm confident of grasping, which is pretty important given I have no science base whatsoever.
There's this awesome website for like minded candidates: http://pagingdr.net/forum/
Here they also have a random quote generator which is really useful for my essays. Hopefully I can tackle the middle section well by the end of this prep, I'll also have to overcome my slow handwriting :(
The entire exam including breaks between sections takes 5 hours, which I've heard can be pretty exhausting and stressful. A little stress is useful because it stops you making silly mistakes by increasing awareness. Too much of it makes you over-think things and lose time in tangent thoughts. I try to enter the same mood as when I fight, emotionally I'm totally aggressive and ready at any moment while logically I'm analyzing what's in-front of me picking up habits, behaviours and movements. Being aware and proactive means that I never run out of time while also being reserved in thinking means I follow chains of thought toward the end. For me I've found it to be the best way to tackle huge obstacle.
After I've done some more practice questions I'll post my thoughts on how hard this is going to be.. :)
Up until now I've been mainly focusing on science to create somewhat of a base for myself. I don't think it's complete but it'll have to do, it takes time to not only go through the textbooks but understand them also. The material I did cover I'm confident of grasping, which is pretty important given I have no science base whatsoever.
There's this awesome website for like minded candidates: http://pagingdr.net/forum/
Here they also have a random quote generator which is really useful for my essays. Hopefully I can tackle the middle section well by the end of this prep, I'll also have to overcome my slow handwriting :(
The entire exam including breaks between sections takes 5 hours, which I've heard can be pretty exhausting and stressful. A little stress is useful because it stops you making silly mistakes by increasing awareness. Too much of it makes you over-think things and lose time in tangent thoughts. I try to enter the same mood as when I fight, emotionally I'm totally aggressive and ready at any moment while logically I'm analyzing what's in-front of me picking up habits, behaviours and movements. Being aware and proactive means that I never run out of time while also being reserved in thinking means I follow chains of thought toward the end. For me I've found it to be the best way to tackle huge obstacle.
After I've done some more practice questions I'll post my thoughts on how hard this is going to be.. :)
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Giant cooking
So this past monday morning the superbowl aired on aussie TV. So glad that my favourite team: New York Giants were in it yet again looking to beat the New England Patriots yet again in the superbowl. It was an amazing game and the players really pulled off some amazing catches, intercepts etc. Best part was of course the fact that the Giants won :D
While the game was on though i decided to try out roasting a duck, since the game goes for a longer time than it takes to roast.
Things I think I did right:
used parsley, rosemary, ginger, garlic for the filling (apparently if you stuff the duck it doesnt cook as well) good flavour, good smell
washing the duck
poured boiling water over it to loosen the fat, blanching is the better option as my karate teacher pointed out (he's a pro chef)
cutting the skin/fat layer to make 1 inch by 1inch squares
Things I did wrong:
didn't have a rack to roast the duck so it went in an oven tray and thus i lost some skin cos it got stuck to it
forgot paper towels to pat-dry the skin so it crisps
cooked it too long, i had it in there about 2 hours 10 mins at 180C fan-forced...next time ill try 170C and 2 hours
Im not sure whether red wine goes with the duck...it goes in serving but i put some over the actual duck...so that one needs to be tested more. No point putting up directions or pictures because a) i googled compiled it and b) i didn't do it right :S
Alas without further ado I present my first brownie attempt!
160g butter + 300 grams dark choc (didn't use cooking choc, some reason i never do)
I put all the butter in the saucepan on low heat first then slowly add in the choc since you want the butter to be sufficiently melted before you for choc as it tends to clump and stick on the bottom if you don't.
Should get a rich dark consistent colour
155g caster sugar (i used raw because i don't want to keep the dark colour as much as i can)
Stir that in, notice it won't be smooth because the sugar doesn't dissolve, it might melt a little but it will mostly appear grainy. Once it's stirred through you won't need the stove anymore.
3 Slightly beaten eggs (slightly means so that the yolks are broken but the whole mixture doesnt turn brighter from properly mixing with the white)
Stir that in and then add 190g sifted plain flour slowly
Now it starts to thicken and get fudgy :)
Add ~60g of chunked marshmallows and it starts to look like the world's greatest hot chocolate
Sorry for the bad picture but these are 80g chopped walnuts
I spread it quite thing because i like thin brownies on their own and it gives me more pieces. But if you're looking to make quality pieces that work with cream/ice cream you want thicker pieces.
Fudgy and a little crunchy with some chewy that's some nice rocky road brownie :)
Be nice and share :)
P.s. i used two baking papers so that I could slide a board inbetween the papers to lift them out, if you use one the paper could stick to the tray because the pre-oven mixture is quite moist.
While the game was on though i decided to try out roasting a duck, since the game goes for a longer time than it takes to roast.
Things I think I did right:
used parsley, rosemary, ginger, garlic for the filling (apparently if you stuff the duck it doesnt cook as well) good flavour, good smell
washing the duck
poured boiling water over it to loosen the fat, blanching is the better option as my karate teacher pointed out (he's a pro chef)
cutting the skin/fat layer to make 1 inch by 1inch squares
Things I did wrong:
didn't have a rack to roast the duck so it went in an oven tray and thus i lost some skin cos it got stuck to it
forgot paper towels to pat-dry the skin so it crisps
cooked it too long, i had it in there about 2 hours 10 mins at 180C fan-forced...next time ill try 170C and 2 hours
Im not sure whether red wine goes with the duck...it goes in serving but i put some over the actual duck...so that one needs to be tested more. No point putting up directions or pictures because a) i googled compiled it and b) i didn't do it right :S
Alas without further ado I present my first brownie attempt!
160g butter + 300 grams dark choc (didn't use cooking choc, some reason i never do)
I put all the butter in the saucepan on low heat first then slowly add in the choc since you want the butter to be sufficiently melted before you for choc as it tends to clump and stick on the bottom if you don't.
Should get a rich dark consistent colour
155g caster sugar (i used raw because i don't want to keep the dark colour as much as i can)
Stir that in, notice it won't be smooth because the sugar doesn't dissolve, it might melt a little but it will mostly appear grainy. Once it's stirred through you won't need the stove anymore.
3 Slightly beaten eggs (slightly means so that the yolks are broken but the whole mixture doesnt turn brighter from properly mixing with the white)
Stir that in and then add 190g sifted plain flour slowly
Now it starts to thicken and get fudgy :)
Add ~60g of chunked marshmallows and it starts to look like the world's greatest hot chocolate
Sorry for the bad picture but these are 80g chopped walnuts
I spread it quite thing because i like thin brownies on their own and it gives me more pieces. But if you're looking to make quality pieces that work with cream/ice cream you want thicker pieces.
Fudgy and a little crunchy with some chewy that's some nice rocky road brownie :)
Be nice and share :)
P.s. i used two baking papers so that I could slide a board inbetween the papers to lift them out, if you use one the paper could stick to the tray because the pre-oven mixture is quite moist.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Revival
So I've decided to revive this blog...after a long time. The title (loosely translated to 'from japan') always had two meanings: in the past it referred to me sharing things with people in aus from Japan. Now is when the second meaning comes into play: how things have changed since Japan and life moments stemming from the changes that happened there :)
In the next month or two I'll be writing about the leadup to my entrance exam for graduate med-school, the GAMSAT. So I'll be generally just mentioning things that came up in my studies or other happenings or what I read in the Word recently.
The reason I'm taking the GAMSAT first of all is because in the last couple of months of my stay in Japan through prayer and thought and consulting with parents (who were half-supportive hah!) I decided that becoming a doctor was the profession that I felt most suited me and my passion. Now I've just recently finished a double degree so the relevant test for me is this GAMSAT which leads to a 4 year med course, provided you score well on the test and they like you at interview. To describe the feeling of knowing that I have.... in the western world the majority of people have access to many schools, a variety of jobs, support from family, the governments, that provide us with opportunities. So many opportunities in fact that it makes it hard to choose, before i settled down I was juggling many things: police officer, rescue, paramedic, soldier, doctor, nurse and IT (which is the only thing I'm 'qualified' for). It was on 'doctor' that I landed on, which made all the other options no longer viable. That lack of diverse viability was foreign to me for a while but after a time I realised that is part of becoming focused and passionate about something. Also realised that it could be the root of obsession given enough liberty.
So yeah happy myself to revive this so I can journal somewhere and share at the same time, hoping that it encourages friends and people I have yet to meet to share in return or just enjoy :)
Today's readings
- Psalm 33 (seriously good stuff, read it!)
- Proverbs 1&2 1:7 one of my fav verses, a reference to really unpack a lot of other things
- Matthew 19 (v9-12 is interesting and I'm afraid that we often try to make this verse into a hard and fast rule or just ignore it completely for lack of comprehension, verse 12 is supposed to be the key for verse 11 as far as I can tell but I can't get on track with the analogy)
On a side note, whenever I read 'eunuchs' I can't help but think of Jack Sparrow translating the word into a charade involving the onomatopoeia "snippy snippy".
A good night to all :)
In the next month or two I'll be writing about the leadup to my entrance exam for graduate med-school, the GAMSAT. So I'll be generally just mentioning things that came up in my studies or other happenings or what I read in the Word recently.
The reason I'm taking the GAMSAT first of all is because in the last couple of months of my stay in Japan through prayer and thought and consulting with parents (who were half-supportive hah!) I decided that becoming a doctor was the profession that I felt most suited me and my passion. Now I've just recently finished a double degree so the relevant test for me is this GAMSAT which leads to a 4 year med course, provided you score well on the test and they like you at interview. To describe the feeling of knowing that I have.... in the western world the majority of people have access to many schools, a variety of jobs, support from family, the governments, that provide us with opportunities. So many opportunities in fact that it makes it hard to choose, before i settled down I was juggling many things: police officer, rescue, paramedic, soldier, doctor, nurse and IT (which is the only thing I'm 'qualified' for). It was on 'doctor' that I landed on, which made all the other options no longer viable. That lack of diverse viability was foreign to me for a while but after a time I realised that is part of becoming focused and passionate about something. Also realised that it could be the root of obsession given enough liberty.
So yeah happy myself to revive this so I can journal somewhere and share at the same time, hoping that it encourages friends and people I have yet to meet to share in return or just enjoy :)
Today's readings
- Psalm 33 (seriously good stuff, read it!)
- Proverbs 1&2 1:7 one of my fav verses, a reference to really unpack a lot of other things
- Matthew 19 (v9-12 is interesting and I'm afraid that we often try to make this verse into a hard and fast rule or just ignore it completely for lack of comprehension, verse 12 is supposed to be the key for verse 11 as far as I can tell but I can't get on track with the analogy)
On a side note, whenever I read 'eunuchs' I can't help but think of Jack Sparrow translating the word into a charade involving the onomatopoeia "snippy snippy".
A good night to all :)
Friday, November 19, 2010
Ota-ku Karate Tournament
Finally found something worthy to blog about, it's been a while.
Last Saturday I attended my first Karate Tournament in Japan, only my second overall. Unfortunately I'm not a black belt so my division Male Adult Non-black belts is quite small but I still managed to fight 4 people. I was there with a friend who was kind enough to stay the whole time and record my fights.
When I got to the arena and changed my clothes I made my way to the main hall which was full up with about 250 people of primary school age to retirement all practising their kata's, kumite combos and stretching. It's quite an atmosphere seeing these many people here for the same thing, knowing they each trained hard outside of class and their own free time to get here, tournament fighters are the cream of the karate class crop.
Needless to say I was really REALLY nervous, and kumite started in the afternoon whereas I got there at 8:30am on time. From memory over the course of the whole tournament I went to the bathroom just under 10 times. What was weird though was that I when I came back I was still nervous so I would drink water even though I wasn't thirsty, which only made the problem worse.
After the Kata finished there was a lunch break so my friend, a sempai from my club and I went to go grab some soba. As we came back the kids were already at it, soon it would be our turn...
Round 1
This dude was actually pretty good, he had the most aggression and could have won the tournament if not for me. I had looked at all the people fight before and they simply waited too long, they waited both of them were ready and then someone would spring. I decided that to win my strategy would be FULL ATTACK from the get-go.
First bout I charged quite fast he wasn't able to side step so he backed off out of the ring to avoid getting hit.
Second bout he decided to try a kick, bad idea I love it when people kick. I really threw away a point here though, i forgot what to do once I caught his leg so I just made him fall over instead. Probably could have won the fight there and then.
A note about the rules.... clean hits that pass guard are awarded one point, clean hits against defenceless opponent i.e. their back, while they are on the floor or simply just too fast and they make no attempt to block win the match. Stepping out of the ring warrants a warning, doing it twice results in loss of a point, hitting someone too hard gets you a warning and twice, loss of a point.
So right now it's still 0-0, but I'm winning by a ring warning (i.e. if it was a score tie he loses by that warning, I lost my tournament match in Australia that way).
So he must have realised he was in a bad place if I took the initiative, so he jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, he went on the offensive. I was totally waiting for him, his first attempt to close to punching distance failed epically, a snap kick with my front leg to his stomach stopped him in his tracks as a follow-up reverse punch went in clean to his face. First point goes to me.
I was looking to end it with an attack from above, but he was really fast at stepping away so I cancelled it mid flight, he though this was his chance, made a mistake by opening his counterattack up with a kick though. Easily deflected and I had the time to move away and reset. From here I launched consecutive reverse punches stepping forward after each, I closed the distance on the last one when he actually turned his face away and that one went in close enough and clean enough to win the fight.
After the fight I forgot to shake his hand, you can see him starting to walk in, very noob of me.
Round 2
This guy watched my previous fight so I don't know what he was thinking, but he decided to stick to his fighting style, move in slowly with guard up and then hopefully do something when you're close enough. Too bad I was in aggressive stance, he was seriously not moving fast at all hoping he could tank my hits as I moved in and out of his range. I waited a while with no guard hoping he would initiate. He didn't so I opened with my 影拳, Kageken, Shadow Fist WOAH! (named it myself) to the face, unfortunately I think looking at the video I missed or hit him too hard, his head went back so his jab counter missed, no score.
Reset, he stayed firm in the middle of the ring. I went in for a reverse punch to the face which hit too hard and I got a warning, his Lunge Jab, was way too slow as a counter so it just got misdirected. At this point I realised two things, I was always attacking the head and he was always countering to my head with his front hand. So my new strat was block his vision and punch his ribs.
After the reset, I came straight in with this but he jabbed early so I had to block. Second time around his jab was too slow, my hand covered his eyes first, his jab just cancelled out and my stomach short punches with my right hand went in clean to an exposed rib, score for me.
Reset, still hoping for aggression now that he was losing but no, I decided to mix it up with a roundhouse a mistake on my part he was too close so my knee impacted weirdly instead, also too far away for the punch to land but close enough to make him flinch and let me run away. Weirdly enough on this video he actually drops his guard hand as my head level roundhouse starts, in favour of running away. So, naturally as a I follow through with two Right jabs to the head point blank its useless in countering and defense. He realised too late and didn't switch to his right hand for a counter, my height allowed me to push his guard down with the first punch and then go in clean with the second, score and win. His hands were trembling as we shook hands.
Round 3
This guy is actually Chinese, the way I could tell was that the Japanese couldn't pronounce his name so in the end they just called him 'David' ROFL.
This dude probably had my style figured out, he was coming in low and fast with semi-guard up not a bad style. Me, I decided to mess with him and just ran away too fast and around him and out of the ring, I received a silly ring warning, but the look of WTH? confusion on his face was too priceless. This time around he didn't chase me, favouring angles and keeping distance. My cure for intelligent planning? 影拳 to the face which turned his head, also my stance allowed me to fully dodge his reverse punch along with my side step. Reverse punch was an interesting weapon of choice, going for a stomach counter to stop my movement, my sempai does that too. Needless to say though I can fire a jab and sidestep alot faster. Watching the video, he brought his body and head forward to try and increase the range of his punch, which is the problem with low reverse punches. Problem is combined with my jab and him turning his head to escape the hit, he lost movement momentum which is another problem with low reverse punches. Sidestepped out of the way completely and delivered a clean counterattack reverse punch to the face, his guard was nowhere near able to block it, score.
Next point is the one I'm second most proud of. The whole tournament I had kept basically fully aggressive guard, so just to mess with him a little more I went to full defensive blocking guard. Basically the only technique that I can fire off effectively from this guard is the one I scored with. My arms join to form a weird closed guard shape, my stance lowers and my front hand is open with the back of my forearm protecting my body. Perfect for his attempt to initiate, being one score down its initiate or lose basically. Now my reach is not really that much longer so he could still hit, but I angled a bit so his left jab went out into space but he was actually doing a one-two combo so his right hand was following up to a close rib section. Only problem with this strat of his was I was waiting for something like this. I saw him move in for attack and stepped in myself, my left hand was already partially extended and ready so he walked into a perfect left jab counter, defusing his power and winning me the match.
FINAL ROUND
I'm fighting my sempai, high level belt than me in my club but still not black belt yet. Against him I was now fully serious, no games no letting him plan or anything, full aggression and match control was my plan. First initiation was just a no score, we continued so I decided to give him an ultimatum charge. Initiating with left hand and then keeping there trying to grab his hands as I came forward with my right firing off reverse punches he took the option of stepping out of the ring, he got a ring warning.
After reset I setup a different angle, now what happens here might be confusing. Basically he was trying to fire off a kick with his right leg, but I started and executed faster with my punch. It was high angle, from above his guard and even head level down to his head with my left hand against his body. His kick which looks like a roundhouse was way too slow, I had stepped over and past his leg with my left leg, so as I came in close his leg was pushed by my body and forced him to turn counter-clockwise in a stationary location. Nothing he could do at that point my punch came in and then my body forced him to lose balance and stumble out of the ring, score! At this point I could hear the kids behind me commenting in Japanese, mostly something like wow or sugeee which means awesome kinda.
My final trick up my sleeve came out, the combo I liked the most, leg sweep. By itself when executed properly it wins the match, but I saved it till now. With him on the aggressive trying to come back now. I changed stance to defence, and lowered myself below him, trying to sneak in with my legs. His right reverse punch was caught by my let hand and he read my right punch coming and dodged his left. I really should have countered to his stomach. He came again with his right, but I leaned left and angled for a more straight off centre right reverse punch, dunno what went wrong but the match continued. I wasn't gonna wait for his right to land, so I grabbed his left hand with my right to stop a jab counter and pull him off balance as my back leg came forward to deliver the leg-sweep. He fell, defenceless and might right finished him and won me the tournament.
Afterwards my friend who had no interest in karate, was like really into it and interested hahaha. My club got both first and second place in our division, pretty ownage. Not only that but me and him were in different blocks completely so we beat our way through different opponents to meet in the final.
I don't get to keep the trophy, but I do get a strip to write my name on and leave it on there. It's a cool legacy to be apart of :)
Last Saturday I attended my first Karate Tournament in Japan, only my second overall. Unfortunately I'm not a black belt so my division Male Adult Non-black belts is quite small but I still managed to fight 4 people. I was there with a friend who was kind enough to stay the whole time and record my fights.
When I got to the arena and changed my clothes I made my way to the main hall which was full up with about 250 people of primary school age to retirement all practising their kata's, kumite combos and stretching. It's quite an atmosphere seeing these many people here for the same thing, knowing they each trained hard outside of class and their own free time to get here, tournament fighters are the cream of the karate class crop.
Needless to say I was really REALLY nervous, and kumite started in the afternoon whereas I got there at 8:30am on time. From memory over the course of the whole tournament I went to the bathroom just under 10 times. What was weird though was that I when I came back I was still nervous so I would drink water even though I wasn't thirsty, which only made the problem worse.
After the Kata finished there was a lunch break so my friend, a sempai from my club and I went to go grab some soba. As we came back the kids were already at it, soon it would be our turn...
Round 1
This dude was actually pretty good, he had the most aggression and could have won the tournament if not for me. I had looked at all the people fight before and they simply waited too long, they waited both of them were ready and then someone would spring. I decided that to win my strategy would be FULL ATTACK from the get-go.
First bout I charged quite fast he wasn't able to side step so he backed off out of the ring to avoid getting hit.
Second bout he decided to try a kick, bad idea I love it when people kick. I really threw away a point here though, i forgot what to do once I caught his leg so I just made him fall over instead. Probably could have won the fight there and then.
A note about the rules.... clean hits that pass guard are awarded one point, clean hits against defenceless opponent i.e. their back, while they are on the floor or simply just too fast and they make no attempt to block win the match. Stepping out of the ring warrants a warning, doing it twice results in loss of a point, hitting someone too hard gets you a warning and twice, loss of a point.
So right now it's still 0-0, but I'm winning by a ring warning (i.e. if it was a score tie he loses by that warning, I lost my tournament match in Australia that way).
So he must have realised he was in a bad place if I took the initiative, so he jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, he went on the offensive. I was totally waiting for him, his first attempt to close to punching distance failed epically, a snap kick with my front leg to his stomach stopped him in his tracks as a follow-up reverse punch went in clean to his face. First point goes to me.
I was looking to end it with an attack from above, but he was really fast at stepping away so I cancelled it mid flight, he though this was his chance, made a mistake by opening his counterattack up with a kick though. Easily deflected and I had the time to move away and reset. From here I launched consecutive reverse punches stepping forward after each, I closed the distance on the last one when he actually turned his face away and that one went in close enough and clean enough to win the fight.
After the fight I forgot to shake his hand, you can see him starting to walk in, very noob of me.
Round 2
This guy watched my previous fight so I don't know what he was thinking, but he decided to stick to his fighting style, move in slowly with guard up and then hopefully do something when you're close enough. Too bad I was in aggressive stance, he was seriously not moving fast at all hoping he could tank my hits as I moved in and out of his range. I waited a while with no guard hoping he would initiate. He didn't so I opened with my 影拳, Kageken, Shadow Fist WOAH! (named it myself) to the face, unfortunately I think looking at the video I missed or hit him too hard, his head went back so his jab counter missed, no score.
Reset, he stayed firm in the middle of the ring. I went in for a reverse punch to the face which hit too hard and I got a warning, his Lunge Jab, was way too slow as a counter so it just got misdirected. At this point I realised two things, I was always attacking the head and he was always countering to my head with his front hand. So my new strat was block his vision and punch his ribs.
After the reset, I came straight in with this but he jabbed early so I had to block. Second time around his jab was too slow, my hand covered his eyes first, his jab just cancelled out and my stomach short punches with my right hand went in clean to an exposed rib, score for me.
Reset, still hoping for aggression now that he was losing but no, I decided to mix it up with a roundhouse a mistake on my part he was too close so my knee impacted weirdly instead, also too far away for the punch to land but close enough to make him flinch and let me run away. Weirdly enough on this video he actually drops his guard hand as my head level roundhouse starts, in favour of running away. So, naturally as a I follow through with two Right jabs to the head point blank its useless in countering and defense. He realised too late and didn't switch to his right hand for a counter, my height allowed me to push his guard down with the first punch and then go in clean with the second, score and win. His hands were trembling as we shook hands.
Round 3
This guy is actually Chinese, the way I could tell was that the Japanese couldn't pronounce his name so in the end they just called him 'David' ROFL.
This dude probably had my style figured out, he was coming in low and fast with semi-guard up not a bad style. Me, I decided to mess with him and just ran away too fast and around him and out of the ring, I received a silly ring warning, but the look of WTH? confusion on his face was too priceless. This time around he didn't chase me, favouring angles and keeping distance. My cure for intelligent planning? 影拳 to the face which turned his head, also my stance allowed me to fully dodge his reverse punch along with my side step. Reverse punch was an interesting weapon of choice, going for a stomach counter to stop my movement, my sempai does that too. Needless to say though I can fire a jab and sidestep alot faster. Watching the video, he brought his body and head forward to try and increase the range of his punch, which is the problem with low reverse punches. Problem is combined with my jab and him turning his head to escape the hit, he lost movement momentum which is another problem with low reverse punches. Sidestepped out of the way completely and delivered a clean counterattack reverse punch to the face, his guard was nowhere near able to block it, score.
Next point is the one I'm second most proud of. The whole tournament I had kept basically fully aggressive guard, so just to mess with him a little more I went to full defensive blocking guard. Basically the only technique that I can fire off effectively from this guard is the one I scored with. My arms join to form a weird closed guard shape, my stance lowers and my front hand is open with the back of my forearm protecting my body. Perfect for his attempt to initiate, being one score down its initiate or lose basically. Now my reach is not really that much longer so he could still hit, but I angled a bit so his left jab went out into space but he was actually doing a one-two combo so his right hand was following up to a close rib section. Only problem with this strat of his was I was waiting for something like this. I saw him move in for attack and stepped in myself, my left hand was already partially extended and ready so he walked into a perfect left jab counter, defusing his power and winning me the match.
FINAL ROUND
I'm fighting my sempai, high level belt than me in my club but still not black belt yet. Against him I was now fully serious, no games no letting him plan or anything, full aggression and match control was my plan. First initiation was just a no score, we continued so I decided to give him an ultimatum charge. Initiating with left hand and then keeping there trying to grab his hands as I came forward with my right firing off reverse punches he took the option of stepping out of the ring, he got a ring warning.
After reset I setup a different angle, now what happens here might be confusing. Basically he was trying to fire off a kick with his right leg, but I started and executed faster with my punch. It was high angle, from above his guard and even head level down to his head with my left hand against his body. His kick which looks like a roundhouse was way too slow, I had stepped over and past his leg with my left leg, so as I came in close his leg was pushed by my body and forced him to turn counter-clockwise in a stationary location. Nothing he could do at that point my punch came in and then my body forced him to lose balance and stumble out of the ring, score! At this point I could hear the kids behind me commenting in Japanese, mostly something like wow or sugeee which means awesome kinda.
My final trick up my sleeve came out, the combo I liked the most, leg sweep. By itself when executed properly it wins the match, but I saved it till now. With him on the aggressive trying to come back now. I changed stance to defence, and lowered myself below him, trying to sneak in with my legs. His right reverse punch was caught by my let hand and he read my right punch coming and dodged his left. I really should have countered to his stomach. He came again with his right, but I leaned left and angled for a more straight off centre right reverse punch, dunno what went wrong but the match continued. I wasn't gonna wait for his right to land, so I grabbed his left hand with my right to stop a jab counter and pull him off balance as my back leg came forward to deliver the leg-sweep. He fell, defenceless and might right finished him and won me the tournament.
Afterwards my friend who had no interest in karate, was like really into it and interested hahaha. My club got both first and second place in our division, pretty ownage. Not only that but me and him were in different blocks completely so we beat our way through different opponents to meet in the final.
I don't get to keep the trophy, but I do get a strip to write my name on and leave it on there. It's a cool legacy to be apart of :)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Last Day
We spent this day travelling back to Tokyo by plane, then we had many hours till my mums flight so we explored airport.
I think this is my favourite sign :)
I'm not sure if the sarcasm comes across in Japanese or if it was intentional in the English...either way :)
I think this is my favourite sign :)
I'm not sure if the sarcasm comes across in Japanese or if it was intentional in the English...either way :)
Osaka Day 1 and only
Only had a day in Osaka which was a shame, we went to the castle and took a boat cruise afterwards, of which I have a video. Osaka is probably my favourite castle so far, took alot of shots :)
From the top level balcony :)
Golden Bird :)
Nozzle position....to play space invaders
Clouds made for an awesome backdrop
TAKOYAKI IN THE KANSAI YEAH!!!!
From the top level balcony :)
Golden Bird :)
Nozzle position....to play space invaders
Clouds made for an awesome backdrop
TAKOYAKI IN THE KANSAI YEAH!!!!
Kyoto Day 2
Day 2 started with a visit to 金閣寺, or Golden Pavilion, I think I got that right.
The gate + massive amounts of tourists
Time to cleanse some impure thoughts!!!
Took about a billion photos to get the right one, still bad day for reflection shot
Was getting hungry, if I had a net....
Cool island
Still can't figure out what that could mean
Went to the Imperial Palace here but it was closed, so I took a shot of the sky in protest
Randomly saw this on the street, how well done :)
Gate leading into the museum area, strafe shot while crossing the road haha
The gate + massive amounts of tourists
Time to cleanse some impure thoughts!!!
Took about a billion photos to get the right one, still bad day for reflection shot
Was getting hungry, if I had a net....
Cool island
Still can't figure out what that could mean
Went to the Imperial Palace here but it was closed, so I took a shot of the sky in protest
Randomly saw this on the street, how well done :)
Gate leading into the museum area, strafe shot while crossing the road haha
Kyoto Day 1
So, the morning after that we hopped on a bullet train for Tokyo, I love bullet trains so much more time efficient than planes.
First thing we went to see was Hinomaru Castle, which I thought was pretty cool, got some awesome shots there.
Check out the reflection!!!!
Entry Gate
The best show of craftmanship that we were allowed to take photos of.
Had to be done
Lovely garden
Addiction to relfection shots
Overview :)
After this we toured the shopping alleys of Kyoto where there are like a billion shops, didn't take any photos though :(
First thing we went to see was Hinomaru Castle, which I thought was pretty cool, got some awesome shots there.
Check out the reflection!!!!
Entry Gate
The best show of craftmanship that we were allowed to take photos of.
Had to be done
Lovely garden
Addiction to relfection shots
Overview :)
After this we toured the shopping alleys of Kyoto where there are like a billion shops, didn't take any photos though :(
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