Occam's Broadsword

That is some handsome devil, isn't it?

Guess what? That's me...

I know you've all been starving for some pictures after a couple of weeks of plain text blog posts. Remember how I told you there would be some changes coming to the blog? Well, this is one of them. I'm going to do my absolute best not to stea... I mean "borrow" pictures from elsewhere on the vast World Wide Web. This will, of course, mean that I need to build up a photo library. That could take some time, so be gentle if you see the same photos over and over for awhile.

So I thought it would be only fair of me to share such a high-quality photo of myself as the first personal photograph. So... There I am.

Please not that I am geared up for sparring. Yes, we DO spar in some branches of Budo Taijutsu. All this gear is for stand-up sparring, not rolling on the mat. We do roll; though our efforts are still pretty novice level. I'm sure the hard-core MMA/BJJ guys would merely giggle like little schoolgirls if they saw it. Hey, we all start somewhere.

You'll also note that:
a.) My stance is way too high. I've still got to learn how to bend my knees.
b.) My guard is too low. Sure, I could lie and say the guard is intended to sucker my opponent into striking me high. The truth, however, is that I was dog tired at this point. The arms are dropping. This was Hour 18 of my 24 hour sparring challenge... Okay, okay, minute 18 of my 24 minute challenge...
c.) I'm leaning slightly forward.

So... that should put to rest any rumors that I am some kind of martial arts master with vast skills and knowledge. No one is perfect -- but we all try to get just a little bit better each time we hit the mat.