Traffic Day

A little bit of snow, and the roads are impassable with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Guess I'll be staying home this morning...

Unfortunately, Comcast is getting less and less useful every day. I'd say it connects about 20% of the time ... which means I should only have to pay 20% of my bill, right?

Oh well, I could stand to get some drawing done today ... was up 'til oh-dark-thirty doing today's strip last night.

-The Gneech

EDIT: Well, the roads magically cleared up at 10:30, as if there'd never been a backup at all. Go fig! So I'm at work after all. Darn it! I wanted a nap.

Come On, fhqwhgads!

Come on, fhqwhgads
I said come on, fhqwhgads
Everybody to the limit!
Everybody to the limit!
Everybody say fhqwhgads!

-The Gneech

Tomorrow's Bit of Forgotten English

Since the calendar lives at work and I will be doing weekendey stuff then...

coffee-wit
What is the coffee-wit? He is a ... gossiping, quibbling wretch, and sets people together by the ears over that sober drink, coffee.

--William Wycherley's Love in a Wood, 1671

Every coffee-house had one or more orators, to whose eloquence the crowd listened with admiration.

--Thomas Babington Macaulay's History of England, 1849

Sufficient Grounds
On this date in 1743, English poet and playwright Richard Savage was arrested for failure to pay an £8 coffeehouse debt. A century later, Sarah Hale's The Good Housekeeper offered the following recipe: "Take fresh-roasted coffee, a quarter of a pound for three persons; grind and break into it an egg -- yolk, white, shell and all. Mix it ... to the consistancy of mortar; put warm ... water in the coffee pot; let it boil and break three times; then stand a few minutes, and it will be as clear as amber, and the egg will give it a rich taste. ... Fish skin is often used to settle coffee, if rightly prepared."

Why am I reminded of Rigby Reardon's java in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid? Too bad Mr. Savage didn't have a Starbucks card!

-The Gneech, slurpin' a grande mint skim mocha

Kung Fu

Because I stayed up so late last night, it was a bit of a struggle to get to Kung Fu this evening, but I'm really glad I did.

We had a big influx of new students this evening, about 8 in total, and seeing them reminded me of my first night, over a year ago now, and led me to compare where I am now, to where I was then.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I'm much better at it and in much better shape than I was the first night I went. After all, that was before the bowflex, before all those hours of jogging and stances and punches, and so forth. But even given that it's 13/14 months later, I was struck at how far I've actually come. I would guess that if I hadn't had that hole from July to December, I'd have my first belt by now. That hole was unavoidable at the time, so I'm not going to fret over it, but still that suggests to me that I will have a belt soon. In fact, I'm going to hazard a guess of March.

I will no longer be a beginner; I will have the first form memorized, and I'll have 100+ hours of drills, exercizes, and hard work (the literal meaning of the words kung fu) to show for it. Then, I will be able to truly say that I am a martial artist, without shifting my feet and adding the disclaimer that I'm just getting started. No longer will I feel like a dabbler, but an actual disciple.

Speaking of the first form, I now have moves 1-6 (of ~25) memorized, thanks to another evening of going through the form from start to finish a few times. Also this evening I did a boatload of fist/grip exercises, including going through the entire routine of punches while holding bricks ... and unlike past brickwork, I never had to let my arms drop once tonight! I was proud of that. :)

I do love my Kung Fu. :) And I've got another class tomorrow! (Tonight was a make-up for the class I missed on Dec. 26th after driving all around trying to find my parents.)

But now, I'm tuckered out, and it's bedtime. G'nite, world, and have a truly brilliant tomorrow. :)

-The Gneech