Sérgio
Ambassador of CaliZilian Affairs
I've always been fond of martial arts in general.
I struggle constantly with my body weight and since I was a kid the only sports I was really ok at were martial arts. Took my first Judo classes at 6, and kept on throughout school... Later I learned boxing the old-fashioned way, sort of a la Hemingway, and despite the first beatings I stuck around and ended up boxing as an amateur regularly at the local gym.
A couple of years ago I began learning the way of Karatedo. Quite an inspiring and enriching discipline. I love it.
But I have reached a time and an age in which I can't do everything I want to do. I work, I like literature, I love listening to music, I like collecting books and vinyl records... I love playing even more, and I play in a professional gigging band.
I just don't have the time to do all this.
So I had to pick one to cast off. And it was my martial arts practice.
It happens that I am in my late 30s, I was never going to be any good at this entirely new style, and though I really felt good doing it, it was leading me nowhere particularly, whereas playing guitar IS indeed something I am developing more and more, studying, practicing, jamming, rehearsing, playing live.
If I had to pick ONE single activity I wouldn't ever want to stop doing, it would be music.
So, there goes my dojo time. Yesterday I went to the gym and switched my schedule, and began to work out (ya know, treadmill, weights, machines and all that stuff we do while we'd rather be somewhere else doing something else) early in the morning, before going to work. this way I got all nights for practicing and getting ready for my gigs.
Although I'll miss it, I'm sure I am doing the best with my time.
And hell yeah, I want to reach my 60s as an old guitar player, looking like Page, or a slightly leaner Jerry Garcia, not a Mr. Miyagi!
I struggle constantly with my body weight and since I was a kid the only sports I was really ok at were martial arts. Took my first Judo classes at 6, and kept on throughout school... Later I learned boxing the old-fashioned way, sort of a la Hemingway, and despite the first beatings I stuck around and ended up boxing as an amateur regularly at the local gym.
A couple of years ago I began learning the way of Karatedo. Quite an inspiring and enriching discipline. I love it.
But I have reached a time and an age in which I can't do everything I want to do. I work, I like literature, I love listening to music, I like collecting books and vinyl records... I love playing even more, and I play in a professional gigging band.
I just don't have the time to do all this.
So I had to pick one to cast off. And it was my martial arts practice.
It happens that I am in my late 30s, I was never going to be any good at this entirely new style, and though I really felt good doing it, it was leading me nowhere particularly, whereas playing guitar IS indeed something I am developing more and more, studying, practicing, jamming, rehearsing, playing live.
If I had to pick ONE single activity I wouldn't ever want to stop doing, it would be music.
So, there goes my dojo time. Yesterday I went to the gym and switched my schedule, and began to work out (ya know, treadmill, weights, machines and all that stuff we do while we'd rather be somewhere else doing something else) early in the morning, before going to work. this way I got all nights for practicing and getting ready for my gigs.
Although I'll miss it, I'm sure I am doing the best with my time.
And hell yeah, I want to reach my 60s as an old guitar player, looking like Page, or a slightly leaner Jerry Garcia, not a Mr. Miyagi!
