Feel like Philosophizing

I watched The Rite tonight, the excorsism movie starring Anthony Hopkins. It got me thinking about the philosophy behind religion, atheism, and science. The way I see it those are all belief systems - and yes, the lack of believing in something is still a belief - and they're all grounded in one thing: faith.

Now I'm not a relgious guy, in fact I've never attended a single church service of my own free will. However, I have friends that are very involved in their respective churches and some friends that have read all the different bibles several times. So I've been exposed to a few Christian things, but that's about it. However, the way I've come to understand relgion is that it offers explanations to unanswerable questions. Questions such as: where did everything come from, why are we here, what happens when we're gone, is enlightenment attainable, what is my fate, and so on. Honestly, nobody can answer these questions but we can have faith in whatever answer we come to.

The same goes for science. I remember a conversation I was having with a good friend of mine a while back. I was telling him about the Big Bang and how science believes the universe was created out of a singularity. He didn't like the explanation the Big Bang Theory offered, he simply said it's not enough for him because it doesn't cover what happened before the Big Bang. Therefore, the theory doesn't work for him. It's the same as any religion, there's an element of faith. Science has faith that the universe was created out of the Big Bang because observation has led science to that conclusion. It's just like how various religions have their various creation stories. And the roadblock that my friend came to with science can be reached with religion. God created the universe, ok what created God? Take any creation myth and just ask what came before it and you'll reach the same roadblock. It's all in faith.

As for atheists and agnostics, same thing. There's faith that a higher power does not exist and there's faith that human experience is the focal point of a belief.

I guess my point is whether it's God, Jesus, Allah, Zeus, Buddha, nature, yourself, or anything else it's all grounded in faith. And no matter what belief it may be, as long as it brings comfort and hope it's all good.

Dreams Come True?

Ever had a dream that became real? And I mean an actual dream you had while asleep, not something that you fantasize about becoming. A friend of mine...let's call him Billy...told me about a dream he had. He saw an old house sourrounded by trees. Nothing out of the ordinary right? But as he walked around the house he noticed something haning by a rope from one of the trees. As Billy got closer he noticed it was a dead body. Kinda creepy...

Sometime after the dream Billy was cruising around with his family and he came across the exact same house he saw in his dream. The house was the same color, old, and surrounded by trees just like the dream. Billy couldn't help but to check the place out and as he walked around the house he kept a close eye on the trees, or anything that might be hanging from them. Luckily, there was nothing hanging from the trees. But it's still weird that he came across something from a dream in real life.

This has happened to me a few times. I'll share one time while I lived in Tehachapi. I had a dream that there was a brand new car parked in the driveway. The car was red and sunlight gleamed off the corner of the rear bumper. A few weeks after the dream my parents had rented a car, for a reason I can't remember, and when I went to look at it I saw the vision from my dream. It was a red rental car, fairly new looking, and the late afternoon sun gleamed off of the rear bumper just like the dream. I remember thinking, "I've seen this before...cool." I remember taking the car for a drive. I had just gotten my learner's permit and the rental was an automatic. I was having a hard time with a manual transmission so it was nice to drive something that wouldn't stall on me.

Anyways, I was just thinking about coincidence and this dream/reality thing came to mind.

Rollin' for Fun

 On Saturday I tried out a jiu-jitsu tournament. I've been training for just over a month, I know a few attacks, I barely know how to defend submissions, so I figured why not compete? Sounds like a great idea right? At least I was going up against other white belts.

In my first fight I went up against a guy from a different school. He had four stripes on his belt, which means he's been training for over a year now. I'd be losing this one for sure, it was just a matter of how long I'd last. Well I was on my back pretty quick and was caught in a headlock. I recognized the headlock and tried one of the escapes I learned. But I think it was a setup becuase as soon as I started the escape the guy maneuvered and got into the mount. He went for a couple arm locks but I defended them and was able to get into half-guard. Then he got the arm lock tight and I had to tap out. The fight lasted about a minute and a half.

My second fight was against Dustin, who I train with. He's a cool guy, been training for about 4 months now. We started on the feet. We jostled for position and I attempted a standing guillotine choke. I had it pretty tight but I made the mistake of moving away from him instead of into him. So Dustin got his head out and got the takedown. There I was on my back again! I scrambled into half-guard, couldn't quite get into full-guard. Then I felt his forearm sliding onto my neck. He was going for the same choke he always catches me with in class...and it worked again. I was forced to tap out.

All and all the tournament was fun. I never really expected to win. The way I look at it, I defended a few submissions against a guy with much more experience than me, and I was able to attempt a submission against Dustin. Considering I've only been training for about a month and I went into the tournament with a slight leg injury, I think I did all right. Plus I got to watch some of the advanced matches and it was awesome to see how fluidly they move and transition between positions. The only downside is that my elbow hurts from the arm lock I was caught in and my leg is still bothering me so I have to miss a few days of training to heal.

The weather is supposed to get crazy here in the next few days. Crazy weather for Hawaii means heavy rain and possible lightning. I like lightning, it's awesome we need more lightning storms here. Slightly weird thing: a few nights ago I had a dream that a hurricane is approaching. Now that would be some crazy weather.





Round 2!

I am sore from my neck to my toes. The jiu-jitsu class is fun as hell, but I get a little busted up sometimes. I was partnered up with Conrad today, who was the largest guy in today's class. He's got size, strength, and technique. He handled me easily. When we rolled I basically spent the whole time defending submissions. Exhuasting as hell. The self defense move we learned is kind of funny. It's a technique to escape from somebody who's got a hold from behind. Basically, you drop low and circle to their side. But then you pick the up guy in a way similar to  how you might pick up a small kid, and toss him behind you. It just looks funny seeing all of us fling our partners aside.

I gotta say, even though I get beaten easily I prefer rolling with the better guy. It pushes me harder and I learn a few new moves. My motto is: learn as I lose. So I'm learning a lot! I also signed up for the tournament next week. I want to lose a few pounds so I can be in a lighter weight division. Hopefully that works out. Most of all, I just hope to represent the school well.

Jiu Jitsu training is coming along well. I just got my own gi, and I got my first stripe. So now I'm a level 2 newbie. The Great Aloha Run is coming up in just over a month. Have to get myself ready to run 8 miles by then. But first thing first: get ready for next week's tournament!

New Year, new things

Hey it's my first blog of 2011...and possibly my first blog ever. My holiday season passed as quickly as it came. I spent Christmas with my family on Kaua'i and hung out with my brother a bit. Ate lots of food and gained about 4 pounds in two days...good stuff. I spent New Years Eve on a rooftop with some friend and some drinks and watched half of Oahu set off fireworks. The place looked like a war-zone as a blanket of smoke covered the city lights. It was an awesome sight.

Since the year is new I figure I should keep up with some new things that I've begun recently. Top of the list is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I joined the Gracie Barra University of Hawaii (check it out at http://www.gb-uh.com/). I've been watching MMA fights for a while now and have always been fascinated with the technique involved in BJJ. Mix that with wanting to learn a martial art and there ya go! I joined the school. I've been training for about a month now, I usually get man-handled and bruised up, but I love it!
I've also been writing for the past year. I've been developing a story, written a few short-stories, recorded a few dreams (which has me convinced that I'm part-crazy), and I like writing haikus. Only thing is that I haven't shared any of my writing with anybody. So I look to share some of my work. Be on the lookout for that.