"martial arts"*journals*

(the “teenage mutant ninja turtles” got me interested in ‘karate’ @ age 5)

i really just wanted to learn how to use their weapons…

leonardo (swords)
donatello (bow)
raphael (sais)
michelangelo (nunchuks)

at age 6 i joined the “tiger cubs”…

each father was responsible for organizing a weekend trip for the tiger troop…the old man organized the final meeting of the year…we went to a karate studio in long hill…

i remember being fascinated by the weapons on display in the front office…

i joined the studio the following year…it wasn’t “karate”…it was actually the korean martial art “taekwondo”…

in second grade, each student was assigned a night to spend with “clem” (a feline stuffed animal)…i took clem to my taekwondo class…

the studio gave me the creeps…”master moree” was a white dyke…and i had no friends…furthermore, i wasn’t paying attention when we were taught how to “sign in” after each class (to measure advancement)…therefore i noted that newer students were surpassing me in rank (which was ranked by row from left to right)…

i ended up passing a few tests (as measured by “belt color” and “belt stripes”):

white belt
orange belt
green belt
red belt
blue belt
black belt

(w / magic marker stripes)

(i don’t think i ever made it past “orange belt”)

by third grade i stopped going…i was frightened that my parents would forget to pick me up in the back parking lot (a fear later confirmed during my high school sports days)…

white robe (w/ waist tie)

i just wanted to break wood with my forearm

(and that i did during the first examination)

(master moree encouraged me to stay)

(she wanted my parents’ money)

holiday party at upstate farm

(went with mother)

(this was quite an awkward affair)

“street fighter”
(super nintendo)

“mortal kombat”

(i was never good at fighter games)
(the summers house)

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*👨‍🔬🕵️‍♀️🙇‍♀️*SKETCHES*🙇‍♂️👩‍🔬🕵️‍♂️*

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👈👈👈☜*“MARTIAL ARTS”* ☞ 👉👉👉

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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘

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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*

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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥