Nefarious has become quite completely obsessed with the level creator in Little Big World and is ignoring me… It’s really amazing how quickly a child progresses — be it swimming, reading, gaming, or any other inspiring form of play; it develops incredibly rapidly if they enjoy it. So I do my best to keep her targeted on things that have productive value in developing her overall potential (the gaming also helps with reading and motivates her to learn to do it better), and encourage her to play at them.
Last night I sketched out “The Cure of Folly“, based on a Hieronymus Bosch painting that I’m sure many recognize. I’m quite thrilled with how it is going so far (shameless plug: buy my 2009 art calendar or my bod-mod calendar — or a t-shirt — if you like my art).
It’s totally overcast and rainy today so I couldn’t get a good shot of The Opium Den, but here’s a photo of it with a flash — you can see that it’s quite luminous in the right lighting and perhaps the difference between this and the previous photo show you just how tricky it is to capture. This picture is actually probably closer to the real thing than the previous one.
Another morning of trapeze class today… I think Nefarious took them by surprise when she scampered up the rope nearly to the ceiling — our time rock climbing has paid off. Or maybe it’s our less-encumbered-by-safety-gear climbing at the park? In terms of physical education, I’m hoping to nab some of the other parents at her school into taking judo with us… Judo I think would appeal to Nefarious, who of course loves tumbling and fighting (yeah, I think I might watch the big PPV tonight).
And as someone else pointed out when I mentioned it before, judo really teaches you how to take a fall, which truly is an invaluable skill when you find yourself needing it! I remember once as a child (my parents forced me into judo after I strangled some kid on the school bus after he called me a ‘kraut’) slipping and falling on an icy playground, doing an instinctual breakfall, and realizing “wow, this really works!” Plus joint-locks are an equalizer, and I think everyone should be able to defend themselves.
Caitlin went to the Royal Winter Fair yesterday, so maybe I’ll do that today still, but I think more likely we’ll just go swimming. She brought me back some delicious maple tarts, adding to my enormous girth, especially since I also bought a cake earlier in the day. Haha, well, hopefully now that I’m back at the gym I can get back to eating anything I want without consequences.
Oh, and isn’t this the ultimate phone booth? (Chatting with mommy).
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I teach taekwondo but if I didn’t I’d certainly consider playing judo. I had the luck of training with Jimmy Pedro, an olympic judo medalist, and my eyes were opened to how amazing judo is.
I think as an all-around functional martial art in terms of a good mix of sport and self-defense, I’d put Judo at the top of the heap… Especially because you can train full-force without protective gear and rarely be injured.
Sounds like you’re having a tough time selling her on it. My parents always did the “If you try it and you don’t like it, then you can stop and we’ll stop pestering,” approach. It always worked rather well, though it did entail a sometimes rather long bargaining process about how long or how many times I had to try something before I could legitimately quit. They were nice about not “told-ya-so”ing me when it turned out they were right and I thought whatever it was was awesome.
The new painting is awesome. Rob and I wish we could afford to buy one of your pieces (which may or may not have been feasible BEFORE the economic crash when the US$1=AU$0.97 but now it’s only AU$0.65! Dunno the conversion to the Canadian dollar but it can’t be good). And that is one awesome phone booth! Is that in a playground or what?
Sorry if I wasn’t clear… she’s enthusiastic on everything — I just think it would be more fun with some friends.
I must have misread. It seemed odd that she wouldn’t be enthusiastic about Judo because she sounds like she’s pretty excited and ready to try anything. So that makes WAY more sense! That’s awesome. The ability to fall is a sort-of underrated skill. Rob took lots of martial arts as a kid and it comes through at unexpected times. When he took a roundabout too fast on our scooter he slid out but only ended up with minor abrasions because “the fall” kicked in. It’s something I wish I’d learned as a kid and something I’d want my kids to know. I also think it’s awesome that you’re thinking about Nefarious being able to defend herself while she’s still rather young. It probably ups the chance that if she ever really needed it as a teenager or adult (or even, heaven forbid, as a kid), it would sort-of just kick in and it’s supposed to be generally good for women’s self-esteem and sense of self. So that’s really really cool.
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