Pneumatised!

MM,

This week has so far been busy as usual, but I’ve still been thinking of the Sushi buffet I had on Saturday night.

It was YUM! Understatement. This buffet dinner took place 8 days after my Dedication and it was just so delicious. Now, normally I go ga-ga for sushi (or any seafood), but because it was the first nice dinner out since the Dedication, I was just melting. The star of the show that night was the teriyaki beef which was grilled to perfection. For me and my sweetie, perfection was a steak grilled to medium rare with just enough juice left in the beef. (Okay, if there are any vegetarians out there reading this, I would like to convey my apologies for any discomfort you may feel reading about my meat eating habits. I have my own beliefs, but being vegetarian is not one of them!) The beef was still nice and tender. If beef could melt in your mouth, this one nearly felt like it did. It was so tender and juicy that what chewing that was needed to eat the beef was painless. Nate and I had to order a second dish of the beef.

The supporting actor in this drama was the salmon sushi. I love sushi and it was awhile since I’ve had it. On top of fasting for Dedication, not having had sushi for awhile just made it all the yummier! The salmon sushi had a good texture – smooth and the taste was so delicate. I was basically “hm…” the whole time I was eating the salmon. The rest of the meal was just as yummy. For the sushi, in addition to the salmon, we had crab, red snapper and another fish. We also had some sashimi (just the raw fish, no rice or seaweed with it) and decided the rice added a nice flavour, so ordered more sushi. For the hot dishes, in addition to the teriyaki beef, we had teriyaki salmon, some breaded shrimps and chicken (don’t recall the Japanese name for these two dishes).

Now, the surprise of the dinner was the avocado roll. I normally don’t go to a sushi buffet and order vegetable, but the avocado roll was just as “meltilicious” as the teriyaki beef. I made the mistake of ordering the avocado and cucumber roll first and then the avocado roll, so I was too full to order another one. However, for a drink I ordered an avocado shake which is always yummy at that restaurant.

Finally, after having ordered a few times and letting my stomach digest some food, my sweetie and I decided we had better head home. Although, I’m sure if I stayed another half hour I might have ordered more food.

Hm… it just occurs to me the sushi buffet made up for my not being able to have a seafood smoothie during my fast!

In addition to the marvelous sushi buffet dinner the past Saturday, this upcoming Saturday is my mom’s birthday celebration. We are actually going to dim sum this year! For years, we used to go for dim sum for nearly all our little family get-togethers, but the past few years opted for a Chinese buffet. What a sudden switch back! Yay! I love dim sum. It is one of things I loved most about growing up in my culture. Dim sum is the best.

It consists of primarily little stuffed dumplings made with rice flour. They are usually stuffed with pork or shrimp. My favourites are “seiw mie” and “hak gao” (roughly the English spelling in order to pronouce the words). “Hak gao” is basically a shrimp dumpling. Yum! (See, I did say I was a seafood fanatic.) “Seiw mie” is a little pork dumpling. Other dim sum favourites of mine are the meatballs, cooked the way only the Chinese can, and the “cheng foon”. “Cheng foon” is a form of rice noodle. It is long and thick and rolled up inside is either beef, shrimp, or chicken. I usually prefer the beef and shrimp ones. These are eaten dipped in soy sauce. Additional dim sum foods can include rice porridge (also yum, the only thing better when I have a cold is Vietnamese beef noodle soup), BBQ pork ribs, some stuffed vegetables and of course some dessert items. Popular for dessert is a jello dessert that does not taste like your normal jello. It’s much smoother and creamier. For drinks, of course, there is the famous green tea!

So, looks like I get another yummy meal soon. I can’t wait, to tell the truth. I love dim sum and I love going out with Nate. Any excuse to get him out of the house with me! Hehe…

Well, gentle readers. Time for me to sign off. It’s getting late or early, depending on if you are sleeping or not.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
http://www.brigidsflame.com/

P.S. I just got hungry again writing this. Damn, that was a good buffet!

MM,

Finally, it’s spring!

I’m a summer child so I’m always looking forward to this time of year. The weather gets a little warmer each day while the sun begins to increase in strength. We get a little more sunlight each day.

The equinox was on Sunday, March 20th, the same day as Nathan‘s (my sweetie’s) birthday. So there was much to celebrate. We ended up heading out for a nice dessert at a good dessert restaurant. Yum! After not having food for a few days and still recovering, the ice cream crepe was a little too sugary for me, however, it was still yummy. Aside from that, much of Sunday was spent taking it easy and enjoying the day. A nice needed rest from the hectic schedule me and my sweetie keep.

I’m still in recovery mode, I’m afraid, so will have to say…

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
http://www.brigidsflame.com/

MM,

Nathan (see his link on my page) sent me the following article updating the issue of Bell’s ad on the female body. (Hey, cool, my blog is mentioned!) Is a public apology to be expected?

http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=37786

I have to agree totally that Bell needs to do more to compensate for the damage it has already done. The ads have gone out to thousands of homes and all Bell intends to do is just write letters to the people who complained to them? I’m sorry but I don’t have time to sit on hold on the phone all day waiting to complain to Bell so that they will apologize to me. A public apology is needed. Not just to satisfy those outraged at it’s ad, but to make a statement to others that what Bell did and portrayed in its ad was extremely wrong. Frankly, Bell just wants to get away with a slap on the hand and not totally own up to the consequences of its actions. So much for corporate accountability.

So here’s a message to Bell and all the readers out there. We’re not done yet with you Bell. We want a public apology and in the future more women friendly ads. Next, we’d like to see Bell support sex education.

Well, not yet patting myself on the back. We’ll just have to see what Bell does next.

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
http://www.brigidsflame.com/

MM,

Well, I have been skimming the message boards again. This time I found a discussion about “The Tao of Combat (Martial Arts)” and had to interject.

First, it was a quick question and comment about someone else’s post saying that not only did he practice one martial art, but he has also studied (studied being the operative word here, I’m noting that he did not say TRAIN as one can study a martial art by reading about it, but to train means to physically practice the martial art) Wing Chun, karate, taekwondo, kickboxing, some grappling arts, and some street fighting along with Jeet Kune Do. So of course I ask “what levels have you achieved in each of the various martial arts?” and “How many years have you trained and practiced consistently in martial arts?” The rest of my message is as follows:

While comparing different martial arts can be quite
informative, it takes awhile to really master any one martial art (just as
it takes awhile to master any spiritual practice). It is my opinion that
one should have at least a firm grounding (i.e., 1st dan black belt) in one
art before jumping around too much. While Bruce Lee may have started his
own martial art, Jeet Kune Do, without having full mastership of one art, he
was remarkably talented and a rare gem. (There is a saying that one can do
a million kicks, or strikes, and still never master it, no matter how
powerful or good it is. So one keeps practicing.)

The response to my comments were not so surprisingly evasive about what levels the person has achieved. He also claims to have “over 20 years experience in the martial arts” which begs me to question “what kind of experience?” because I specifically asked for years of consistent training and practice. I suppose he expects me to assume that he’s trained for 20 years consistently. He then continues by talking about creating a new martial art to which someone else asks pointedly “With hundreds of different martial arts and styles, tested and certified for thousands of combats, WHY SOMEBODY NEED TO CREATE YOUR OWN???? Perhaps to become a “Master”… :-)” I say I must agree with that comment. Statistically, at my do jang, only 5% of students ever make it to black belt, 95% drop out before that time. Whatever happens to the remaining 95%? Perhaps running around trying to craft their own martial art in order to somehow gain the title of “Master” while they normally would not have achieved that status. While I do not think there is anything wrong with creating your own martial art (aside from the why bother as there’s so many out there), I have a problem with someone trying to pass themselves off as a “Master” of martial arts when obviously he would otherwise not have become a Master under formal training. I’d rather learn from someone who is certifiably experienced in martial arts, not just someone who claims to have the experience.

Another person responded to my post with the question about levels saying that the martial arts should not be practiced for what ranking can be achieved. He mentions he has not had the opportunity to go for a higher level and mentions that he “tests” himself against others of similar or higher skill level. He also mentions that he disagrees with martial arts tournaments or competitions for fear of reducing the martial art to a sport. The following will be my response:

Yes, I agree that martial arts should not be practiced SOLELY for the achievement of rank. If that is the sole reason for training, usually the person is hungry for power or superiority over others (and these people usually don’t last long in a formal training environment, only 5% of students at my do jang ever reach black belt level even though it only takes about 3 years). However, that is not to say that rank (levels of completion and/or belts) does not have a purpose. Frankly, if one is following a disciplined formal training schedule, one should be able to achieve a significant level of skill, ability, and knowledge (which was the point of my question and in case anyone else hasn’t notice, it was never answered.) Certificates and belts are used to recognize the accomplishment of skill, ability, and knowlege level (and often promote a sense of self-confidence). One other thing about belt colours, each colour actually has a significance which corresponds to the level the student has achieved. (Read my essay for more information, http://www.brigidsflame.com/taekwondoessay.html.) While I understand some people feel they don’t need nor want anymore formal training (or perhaps it’s a time and money issue, that does happen sometimes), honestly, martial arts is one thing in this world that NEEDS to be passed on from teacher to student. There is just too much that a book can’t teach a student of martial arts while a properly certified and experienced teacher/Master can. There are always nuances to a technique that you cannot learn on your own and little tips that only someone with more experience than the student can offer. This leads me to a point about traditions.

One of the things learned in martial arts is respect. One must earn respect and one must show proper respect. Teaching the martial art as it was taught to you is the ultimate way of showing respect to those who taught you and to those who created the martial art. This is not to say that one shouldn’t teach some of their own styles and techniques. I’m just saying that part of martial arts IS the tradition of it and the passing on of knowledge from teacher to student. It’s respectful of those who are ahead of us.

All martial arts should be used for self-defence only. In my opinion anyone who uses it otherwise has not learned what it means to be a martial artist. However, I disagree with you regarding tournaments and competition. In this society, where competition is serious and fierce (e.g., the corporate ladder), martial arts tournaments CAN provide a healthy environment of FRIENDLY competition where people learn that “winning isn’t everything”. Granted there are those who don’t learn that, but there are always those who “just don’t get it” anyway. My Master has pointed out one very important thing. There are fighters and there are martial artists. A fighter lasts about 5 years on average; a martial artist lasts a lifetime and forever. (This from someone who has competed, has trained people to National Champion status and 3rd in World Competition – he has ultimately chosen to be a martial artist.) The other important point about competition and tournament is that it is a good way to test out your skills in a safe environment. Someone who has never actually sparred before who suddenly needs to defend himself on the street won’t be as effective in responding as someone who already has experienced what it’s like to be under attack. When someone is under attack, no matter how good that person thinks he or she is, the adrenaline starts. Learning to deal with an attack before a real need for defensive action occurs helps one learn to control the adrenaline rush. With regard to martial arts being treated as a sport, I think it’s fine to teach a martial art as a sport as long as the ART is not lost.

One question: how do you judge if someone is of the same or better skill level than you if you do not have a system of rank? You’d likely have to compare your training with the other person. One’s training in a martial art can be significantly different depending on who taught it and where it was taught. I personally have met black belts who weren’t as skilled as me in some techniques (I don’t take it as me being talented so much as it is the training and the teaching I received).

For more information on my background in martial arts, please see http://www.taekwondo.ca. I think at this point that I should note that my striving to achieve levels in martial arts was never about the belts or rank, but rather about the training. I wanted to train hard and learn more advance techniques. As a white belt, I wanted to take the advance classes. I never signed on for martial arts training to get some sort of power (power comes from within), but just to learn something and be healthy while doing it. It just so happened I managed to get to black belt along the way. Part of it was my efforts, but mostly I think it was the fact that the Masters and Instructors always believed in me. Such is the reason they are named at the end of my essay.

Now, let’s get back to the first person who claims to have “20 years experience”. He responded to the “why create your own martial art?” with “The martial arts I try to develop, is a more down to earth realistic fighting style intended for street battle combat.” Okay, now who’s not getting the martial arts. Martial arts is not about the fight. It’s about avoiding the fight. (“A beginning student will block an attack. An advanced student will counterattack after blocking. A sabomnim (Master) does not need to block.” (Jon Gerrard and Yeon Hwan Park, Black Belt Taekwondo, page 9.) This means that a Master will avoid a fight and diffuse a confrontational situation. There’s nothing wrong with walking away.) This person isn’t interested in martial arts. He’s interested in street fighting. Read the rest of what he writes and you’ll see why I make that comment.

If I was to have a martial arts school, I would not
have too many traditional weapons, instead I would have bricks,
bottles, bats, chains, knives, clubs and yes even a staff, but only
because one is most likely to find these things in today’s world,
then say farm weapons or swords. Many schools train people in using
weapons that they will most likely not encounter around them in a
street fight.

Bricks, bottles, chains, knives? Okay, can anyone else see lawsuit coming up if this actually happened? Number one rule to running a successful martial arts school is safety. If everyone is getting hurt, it’ll quickly hit the rumour mill and you won’t have any students left. Seriously, what parent is going to want their son or daughter dodging bottles and knives. I wouldn’t even want to do that myself. There’s a safer, better way to teach people to defend and protect themselves from being hit by a brick or bottle and you don’t need those around to do it either. Frankly, this guy does not understand weapons training to begin with. The skills one learns with the traditional weapons (i.e., swords, staff, short sticks) are easily adapted to other weapons. In addition, there are open hand techniques designed to be used against a weapon attack. There is Escrima, a Phillipino martial art using short sticks. The other point I’d like to make about traditional weapons is that these were the weapons taught as part of martial arts. Forms were developed with these weapons as part of the art. Let us not forget one of the key words in the phrase “martial art” – ART. Eliminating the traditional weapons reduces the martial art to just combat skills and street fighting and loses the beautiful weapons forms that help to make a martial art, ART. Yes, I agree that people need to be able to defend themselves with modern objects, but that means applying things you learn with the traditional weapons to the modern object. An umbrella may not be a sword but it can be made to move like one and it can also become a spear. No, the traditional weapons training is not pointless or useless, it is adaptable if one is intelligent enough to see it.

I hate to say this but in the “20 years experience” this person has in martial arts, he still did not learn as much as I did in the almost 6 years experience I have in martial arts (and I didn’t need to run through all the different martial arts on the planet to do so, I just happened to pick a school with quality Instructors who provided quality training as well as teaching the philosophy).

BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
http://www.brigidsflame.com/

MM,

Bell’s new advertisement has made it to my home today. As Nathan, my sweetheart, stepped inside the door, he handed me Bell’s brochure which arrived in our mail today. His comment is that he HAD to show this to me because well… After looking at it, I realized why.

The advertisement is a typical Bell fold-over brochure. This one is promoting its internet service. On the cover is a picture of a textbook (likely a basic anatomy textbook) depicting “The Female Body”. The female’s breasts and genitalia are cut out of the page of the textbook. To the right side reads, “You’ll do anything to protect your kids from inappropriate content. So will we.”

Upon seeing this, the first thought in my mind is “What the hell?” Apparently, the female body is “inappropriate content” for our children. So much for the new age of enlightenment. Seeing this ad, I feel like I have been thrown into the dark ages.

There are two important issues that come to mind when I see this ad. First, education about sex (even just the anatomical parts) is a bad thing. It is inappropriate for our children to learn about sex. Second, the female body is a bad thing. It is inappropriate and shameful to see.

Let’s address the first issue.

Sex education was always a hot topic when I was in high school. There will always be those who think that teaching kids about sex would encourage them to have it. No, no, and NO. Nice theory, but in reality, children are curious and they will do anything to satisfy their curiosity. Children at a young age already KNOW about sex. Maybe they aren’t fully capable of communicating what they know, but certainly they KNOW. Children learn things on a subconscious level and I’m afraid sex is one thing they learn about – right from birth. Think about it. A child is born out of its mother. It spends 9 months in its mother’s womb, then during labour it makes its passage into the world through its mother’s vaginal passage. A women’s genitalia is inherently connected to a child’s existence through birth. So how can we assume that a child knows nothing about sex? If anything, a child knows alot more about the topic than some who have repressed knowledge about sex or just ignored the topic completely.

Getting back to the topic of children having sex. I’ve explained that children already know about it, so that means eventually one day they are going to want to try it. Plain and simple. That’s just the way of life. So why try to shield the child from the topic? It just doesn’t make sense. It’s not logical. Here’s an analogy from a once popular TV show, Beverly Hills 90210 (Yes, they had some wisdom on that show! Amazing, isn’t it?!). You have a large pool in your backyard. (You know, one of those nice big pools all the rich Beverly Hills folks have). You tell your 5-year-old not to go into the pool for fear of drowning. Then you erect walls and boundaries so that the child cannot get into the pool. Eventually though, the child will get through all those boundaries and dive into the pool and possibly drown. Wouldn’t it have just been easier to teach the child to swim? So too, children will eventually have sex. Statistically, about two-thirds or more of teenagers have had sex by age 18. (Source: http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp). Wouldn’t it be better to teach the child about sex before it’s too late and the child contracts an illness or becomes a parent before s/he is ready? If you’re a parent reading this, wouldn’t it be better if you taught your child about sex? Wouldn’t you sleep better at night knowing your child got the information you wanted your child to receive about the topic of sex? Or would you REALLY rather your child learned about sex from John/Jane Doe on the street (and you won’t even know about it)? The bottom line is children will start to have sex (usually between the ages of 15 and 18). It’s been that way for ages. Heck, at one time, not too long ago, 13-year-old daughters were married off and would have children within the year. (I know this for a fact, my aunt was 13 when she got married.)

Sex education does not encourage kids to have sex. Kids will have sex without any encouragement.

The second issue with the Bell ad is one I consider to be a more important issue. The message that is relayed to me is, “The female body is inappropriate content.” The issue of kids aside (I’ve already gone over how children already know about sex. By that same token, kids know about the female body, even if subconsciously. So why hide the female body from children? It nurtured the child for 9 months, for goddess’ sake!), the message relayed taps directly into women’s issues about their bodies and further promotes a negative image of women. “Women’s bodies are bad. It is shameful to be a woman. A woman’s body should be covered up. Children need to be protected from the shame that is women.” As a women, I’ve learned over the years to appreciate my body. As a pagan, I’ve learned that the body is each person’s temple and it should be treated as such. Not many women are as lucky. Some women struggle with these issues still. Some cultures still treat women as the personification of evil. Some cultures still force women to cover their bodies because it is shameful to expose them. It has been a long road for women to gain equal rights as men. For some, that time still has to arrive. The Bell ad perpetuates the idea that women are shameful and evil. It perpetuates an idea that I thought would never be seen again in this society (North America). I guess I was wrong.

As a pagan and as a woman, I strive for acceptance of who I am. I strive for basic tolerance and acceptance of who people are. I am tempted at this point to blame Christian thinking or Muslim thinking for extreme interpretations of “God’s word” that women are evil and shameful, but not all Christians or all Muslims think the same way. Not all are ignorant. So, I guess I can blame ignorance as well as the people who decided that printing this ad was a brilliant idea (i.e., ad executives and agency people, the CEO of Bell).

The Breast Blog has already taken action to have Bell Canada remove their ad campaign. (http://thebreastsite.com/blog/archive/2005/02/10/214.aspx) (Apparently, there is a commercial as well, but the message when acted out supposedly makes more sense than the print ad.) In conversation with a female Bell executive, the Bell executive has “no opinion” on the ad. (http://thebreastsite.com/blog/archive/2005/02/21/232.aspx) So much for female solidarity. I guess her job is more important than the bigger issues of society, even issues of women in society. (I have to comment that I have no sympathy for the female Bell executive. I studied business and have a Bachelor’s of Business Administration, but I pulled out of that working world because of situations like this. I knew it would just get worse as you moved up the corporate ladder. There is no way, if it were me, would I sit and keep my mouth shut while the company I work for prints a degrading ad. Yeah, I realize I would lose my job, but… been there, done that already! Ah, life is much better from my vantage point, but I do have a mission… read my main website for more information on that. See my links to Brigid’s Flame.) The Breast Blog needs more help in dealing with this issue because Bell Canada is not willing to pull the ad. It seems Bell Canada needs more incentive for the scales to tip. There is a phone number posted on the Breast Blog so people can call Bell Canada directly. For my part, I will post a comment on that Blog linking to my Blog entry as support for their/our cause. I will email Bell Canada too, provided I can find the right contact information (they’re probably hiding it, so they don’t have to listen to people and deal with consequences of their actions). The other thing I will have to do is get a new phone line. It has been an ongoing discussion between Nathan and I to get rid of our land line, seeing as we hardly use it. I’m afraid the recent Bell ad just tipped the scales over for me. If they want to know if their recent ad worked, well, yeah, it did. I don’t want their services anymore. They don’t deserve it. Women are their customers too and they just slammed and degraded them. I hear Sprint Canada offers a good deal and they haven’t slammed women as far as I know.

Well, Bell Canada has done it again. A remarkable achievement. This time in ignorance.

Cassandrah
Your local webmistress

P.S. To see Adrants comments and picture of Bell ad, http://www.adrants.com/2005/02/
isp-blocks-body-parts-to-promote.php?show_id=110857516819274858
. To view a message board comments, http://www.ihaveanidea.org/cgi-bin/forum/
YaBB.pl?board=canadvertising;action=print;num=1108649607.

Well, I finally caved in. It’s been a few years since I first saw a blog. To be honest, I never thought I would use one – primarily because I keep a journal/Book of Shadows. However, that is a form of personal writing, a forum for my private thoughts and a means by which I collect my thoughts. What is required now is a place for me to share some of my views with others. At the same time, this provides readers with an efficient method of sharing their own views with me on whichever topic I’ve written about that sparks their interest. The primary intent of this blog is for visitors to my website to get to know me. If you have already been to my website (www.brigidsflame.com), you know that I practice Reiki, a form of energy healing. Reiki requires a certain amount of trust between the recipient and the practitioner. The best way to engender trust between persons is for them to know one another. Thus, this blog is the open door to… my virtual home where you can get to know me. So, feel free to get comfortable while you read. Right now, I am having tea and warming up next to my heater as it’s a true winter day (below 0 degree temperatures, lots of snow on the balcony/ground and more coming!) and my sweetheart is trying to distract me from my work. Okay, now I’m starting to ramble as I tend to do sometimes. So, getting back to the topic at hand. Yes, this site is for you, dear readers, just as my services are for you. I hope you enjoy your stay and learned a little about me already. Don’t forget to drop by often.

Merry part and merry meet again,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress

P.S. Yes, I am pagan/Wiccan as an astute observer knowledgeable in occult traditions would have hypothesized from some of the phrases I used in this post. Blessed be!