Girls' Night Out and a Guest Blog

It's been such a busy weekend that I'm just now up to blogging about it.

Friday night was Girls' Night Out for me and Hannah since the boys were off being wilderness men. Soon after the boys left, Hannah and I headed out to dinner. One of her favorites is Outback since she can get snake (steak for those of you that don't know Hannahese). After a very nice dinner, we went bowling, which seems to be a favorite activity for the two of us. My average is beginning to increase the more we go, so that's pretty cool (I bowled a 154 and a 147 this week). We came home and Hannah was in bed and asleep by 8:20. Not a bad night for me. Hannah just loves Girls' Night Out (this is our second time doing it) and talks about it endlessly for the next several days.

And now...a guest blog by Mike...

The Moon, Kata, & God

Part I: The Moon

I took the boys camping on Friday night. The campsite was in Missouri and about 75 miles from home. The weather was nice, a little hot, but very clear. There were about seven scouts with five dads (two dads, including myself, brought two boys).

The boys were helpful in putting up the tent. We were camping right off of a lake and the boys were anxious to go fishing. All the scouts spent an hour fishing off the docks or taking canoes into the lake all came back with the result: No bites, no nibbles, no fish. But with setting up their lines, hooking the worms, and trying to catch fish, Daniel and Jacob earned their fishing belt loop.

After fishing it was time for dinner. Not being much of a cook myself, we planned for hotdogs and chips. The boys had a blast skewering their hotdogs and sticking them in the fire. Some dads actually brought steaks, seasoned them, and then skewered and cooked them like hotdogs. If I knew it was that easy - we would have been eating steak!

When it became dark, the scout master called all of the boys around the campfire and broght out a whiteboard and markers. He then announced that we were going to earn our astrology belt loop. The scout master quizzed the boys on the meaning of words like meteorites, astroids, planets, sun, and the galaxy. He then pointed out certain stars and planets.

He then asked the boys if they knew the main star of our solar system. One boy shouted out "the sun". He was then instructed to grab a marker and go to the whiteboard and draw a picture of the Sun and write out "Sun" next to his picture. The next question was: "What's the planet closest to the sun?" The boy that answered "Mercury" came up and drew Mercury near the Sun. Jacob correctly guessed that Earth was the third planet and drew it accordingly. He even included a little moon! With a little prodding by dad, Daniel correctly shouted out Neptune. Not knowing how to spell Neptune, Jacob accompanied Daniel to the whiteboard and whispered the spelling letter-by-letter so that Daniel could complete his picture. Daniel had an ear-to-ear smile that he was able to do this exercise with the older scouts. It was too cute!

The last requirement to complete the Astrology merit badge was to find the moon with a pair of binoucalars. The moon wasn't out but the boys would spot it at 6:00 am on Saturday morning and thus completed their Astrology merit badget.

The rest of Friday night was spent cooking s'mores, telling jokes and stories around the camp fire, and just running/goodfing around. The night wound down around midnight.

It was a fairly hot night and didn't really cool down until 2-3 am. Everybody got up at 6:00 am to see the moon and to see if they could catch fish. Everybody ate at 7:30 am. I couldn't find the bagels that Barb packed, so I gave the boys doughnuts and juice boxes. The other dads whipped out skillets and cooked bacon and eggs over the open fire. I have got to learn how to cook! Fortunately, the cooking of hot dogs and s'mores was enough for partial credit towards their Cooking belt loop.

In the course of about 14 hours, the boys put up a tent, went fishing, cooked their dinner, stoked the fire, hung around their pals, and earned three belt loops.

We then broke down the camp and left around 8:45 am for the Tae Kwondo Tournament.

Part II: The Kata

We went to the Tae Kwondo Tournament at the urging of our instructor, Master Johnson. The tournament has two main sections: Forms (or Kata) and Sparring. Forms are a prescribed routine of kicks and punches to demonstate power, profiency, and an sense of rythm. Sparring is full contact fighting, but with the protection of head gear, arm and legs pads, and a chest protector. The divisions of competion were broken down by age (essentially children, teenagers, adults, and seniors - and yes, I fell into the senior group!) and by belt class (low, medium, and black belts - all three of us were in the low belt class).

Master Johnson wanted the boys to compete in Form to build up Jacob's confidence in performing in front of a crowd and Daniel focusing on speed and power. He left the choice of competing in Sparring up to the boys - who both initially declined for fear of getting hurt.

As I was going to be there anyways, I signed up for both Forms and Sparring. I signed up for Forms to basically kill some time and signed up for Sparring to try and teach the boys to face their fears. Like them, I had a fear of getting hurt. I've been doing this for 6 months and bearly have gotten back into shape. I told them that during their lives they will face situations when someone is going to push them around and will challenge them. There will be times when someone won't let reason resolve the situation. They will have to either stand up or back down. Nobody likes getting hurt, but on reflection, it's almost always more painful when you back down and don't stand up for yourself. So, I entered the ring with the hopes of showing the boys how to face your fear, that fear is self restricting, and if you don't give it into you will build inner respect and confidence.

The Tae Kwondo tournament started by lining up all of the competitors by rank, taking us through some basic exercises to the background of Queen's "We Will Rock You!" The boys loved this and have been thumping with their hands and the feet the riff to this song.

Next was a demo by the high ranking blackbelts. We saw demos on board and brick breaking, self defense, and Forms. One blackbelt did a standing back flip and while in mid-air, backwards, broke two boards with his legs over his upsidedown head and body. It was jaw dropping!

Next was Forms. The kids went first. Daniel and Jacob were in two adjoining rings, with Barb helping out Daniel and me helping out Jacob.

The judges call the kids two-by-two and score them. Best scores win - with the top three earning trophies. While the boys are grouped in eight for expediency, they are actually competing with three other boys (two groups of fours each competing for first through third).

Jacob went before Daniel. Jacob is the star of his class and had been repeatedly told he had a great shot at first. I personally made the mistake of having told Jacob he was our families' best shot at a trophy - because I'm old and slow - and Daniel has dad's sense of rythm. This may have gotten Jacob overly confident. I thought he rushed through his Form and didn't really focus on power or rythm. Because Barb had been working with Daniel, she just caught the tail end of Jacob's Form.

Daniel was then called out on the adjoining mat, so Barb and I ran over. We had told Daniel to focus on completing his Form and not winning. This was the best we had ever seen Daniel. He didn't stumble and remembered the sequence of the kicks and punches. Seeing all the 6 year olds perform, was too cute!

Daniel's section finished before Jacob's section. The judges lined up all the contestants in Daniel's section - and the by the way they lined up - we were guessing that Daniel had earned third. We were very excited to see that he won something. We soon discovered that we looking at the line from the wrong direction, and what appeared to be third was actually a first place finish! Daniel was stunned and we were the proud parents. I ran up, hugged Daniel, and hoisted him the air, shouting: "That's my boy, that's my boy!" Daniel was all ear-to-ear smiles.

I was then called over to my ring to do Form before I could see Jacob's results. As I was lining up, I glanced back over to Jacob's ring and saw Barb hugging Jacob. They never came over to see me perform and I knew something was wrong.

As it initially turned out, Jacob did not place and was so upset that he missed my performance. Because of this, my family also missed my performance.

There are no group limitations at the adult level - but there are not a whole lot of low belt seniors. There were five in my group - so my goal wss just to medal, top three of five.

One of my instructors told me at level to perform each block, kick, and punch with enough power that it could break a board. To yell (kiop) very loudly and dramatically at the end of each sequence and not break closing stance until instructed. I thought I pulled this off fairly well and liked my chances of scoring in top three.

As they were announcing the winners of my division, Barb ran over and said she had to chase Jacob out the door as he announced he was leaving because he didn't win. As she, Daniel, and Hannah were chasing down Jacob, the judges began announcing the winners of my division. Third place - my name is not called. Second place - my name is not called. Crap this getting close. First place - they announce my name and with a fist pump and smile, I claim my winners trophy. As I am walking up, I am thinking "Damn, this will look good in my office for all to see. As I receive the trophy, the judge shakes my hand and whispers in my ear: "Sorry, we ran out of first place trophies - all we have left are "Special Recognition" trophies and he handed it to me. Walking back out of the ring, I'm now thinking: "Crap, I can't bring this into the office, it looks like a "I participated and didn't get hurt trophy." Without my family witnessing my performance or a trophy to show for it - you will all simply have to beleve I won this thing - I swear I did!

At this point, Barb has successfully stopped Jacob from leaving. Master Johnson all came up to us and told us their was a scoring mistake with Jacob. The judges had accidently paired Jacob's group with four older boys. They wanted Jacob and his group to reperform. Jacob refused. Not sure about the other boys in the group. To settle this, they took Jacob's groups original scores and ranked him - and Jacob finished third. At this point, Jacob didn't believe us and thought we were handing him a charity trophy. It was high drama. Neither Barb or us could settle him down. Master Johnson couldn't really do it either. Jacob eventually settled himself down.

The tourament was now moving to Sparring - and Daniel and Jacob announced they wanted to Spar. After a first place finish, Daniel now had confidence he could compete. Jacob was so angry at his third place finish, he wanted to Spar for redemption. Jacob and Daniel had found their own path into the Sparring ring for their own personal reasons, and papa was proud. I no longer had to Spar to try and teach the boys about facing fear - but I was with Daniel, I took first place in Form and now it was time to kick some ass!

Jacob was first to Spar. In practice, Jacob is very reluctant and defensive. He doesn't like the thought of hurting anyone and really just works on blocking. He needs to be constantly coached to kick and punch. Today was different. He was aggressive. Jacob was paired against a bigger kid. He stayed in the center of the ring. He executed lots of combinations. While he connected a lot, Tae Kwondo scoring is hard. You must actually make your opponent move backwards with a kick or punch to score. It was a three minute match. Jacob lost 2-1 and kept the bout very close. I came over to Jacob and whispered how pleased I was of the effort. No backing down. Good execution. Great sportsmanship. Papa was proud! There were only three in Jacob's division who chose to spar. Because he lost the first match, he finished third and claimed his trophy. It is tough to stand in there and take and give full contact punches and kicks. Jacob really earned his trophy!

Next was Daniel. Daniel loves Sparring but typically doesn't take it seriously. A lot his kicks and punches are rather random. But Daniel came out and, like Jacob, took this seriously. Daniel was also paired against a bigger kid. He threw good combinations and gave a great effort. I was coaching him from the sidelines - and everytime I said something he turned back to look at me and smile. I sooned learned not to say anything so he wouldn't turn away and get sucker punched. Daniel lost 2-0. He was also called out a second time, gave another great peformance and came up short again 2-0. The judges declared a two way tie for third and gave Daniel a 3rd place trophy. Daniel suspected this was a charity trophy and didn't want to accept it. I generally agree with that thinking - but if you can stand in the ring for two full contact bouts at age 6, you've earned a trophy!

Now it was my turn. Like my boys, I was outsized. I stand 5'6'' and was paired against a guy who was 6'3''. In this sport, height is a huge advantage. We bowed and the bout began. In the first few seconds, my opponent and I each landed a round kick on the other. The referee yelled: "point" and the judges scored 3-0 that I landed the kick (and moved my opponent backwards). I was up 1-0. Barb was in the first row of the stands about 10 feet from me. Our eyes met and we gave each other "a holy crap, I can actually win this thing look".

That first kick was the only one I could land. My oppenent was too tall for me. I couldn't connect kicks and moved to the inside to avoid his kick and punch. I punched the tar out of this guy. I easily out connected him. I couldn't move him backwards and all my punches went for naught.

My opponent became a poor sport. He protested almost everything I did. I also blocked his kicks hard sending him to floor several times. You don't score points for blocks. All of his protests and theatrics though, did rally a small crowd to my side. He did land two round kicks to my weak side and I found myself down 2-1.

At this point, I should have changed something up - but I didn't. I continued to block kicks, move inside, and tried punching him backwards - very tough to do with someone wearing a chest protector. I came in with a hard left hook, even though he is so much taller than I am decided to try and duck the punch. I ended up hitting him square in the jaw which is highly illegal. He bitched to the ref, and I apologized. But I have to tell you, that that punch felt great - it was orgasmic. My best shot of the day and it was illegal.

Now the weight of the equipment was wearing on me. I used too much energy working inside, and the equipment now felt heavy. I left my weak side open again and was scored against. I had lost 3-1.

The boys were really upset. They thought I won. It probably looked like to the average person that I had won. My opponent was out punched and fell down at least twice. As it was explained to me aftwards, Tae Kwondo is about technique and is scored on technique- not on power.

I came over to Barb and smiled. Didn't matter that I lost, it was way cool to go into a ring and duke it out - and I lived to tell about it. Besides, I still had my Special Recognition trophy! Two of the five in my group, decided not to spar - which handed me third place trophy.

I also need to comment on our dojo. We had about 30 people compete. We were a tight nit family. Everybody rooting for each other. The families helping each other out. The high black belts coaching in between sessions. It was a very cool feeling.

End result: Three Ginsbergs in a total six events. Total trophies won: 6 (two firsts and four thirds).

We then went to out to dinner. After coming home, we were all exhausted. We took baths and ended the evening.

Part III. God.

It's now Sunday morning and we are at synagogue. During the family service, I began reflecting on the week. The camping trip was a great father-sons experience. The girls had a girls night out on Friday and had a great time at Outback and bowling. We all learned so much about ourselves and each other at the Tae Kwondo tournament - we all passed our individual tests. It was now time to thank God for giving me my family and for our love of each other.

-Mike