Alas I will not be attending this year. Rather than let the fates get me down because something goes wrong when I try to attend a Chance galla I will be staying in New Jersey revocerying from my birthday celebration the night before
Hey TP you and Verrain are welcome to carpool down with us, if it comes to that.
tdc
Thanks, tdc. This should make for an interesting car ride. 
:eek:
Are you referring to my driving, moi’s singing voice, my extensive colection of Bulgarian Opera tapes or the court order that keeps you from leaving the state? 
Yes.
(Well, that and the amount of fun that’s to be had whenever the four of us are in the same place at the same time. Just keep any coasters out of moi’s hands, otherwise I’ll have sore boobage by the time we make it to JC’s! ;))
Awww, c’mon - Bluesman will be there. And like he says, everything goes better with firearms!
If there’s Trivial Pursuit involved, it’s best if Airman and I find other activities. Aaron doesn’t need a sibling yet.
Robin
I’m competing in the 18-35 men’s beginner category (upper end of the age range). I just tested for 7 gup, high beginner (striped yellow belt, at my school; sometimes equivalent to striped orange belt).
Size matters not. The larger competitor usually has an advantage in reach, and the smaller competitor usually has an advantage in quickness.
I do have two sets of pads – one for practice and one for tournaments. You’d need your own mouthguard and groin guard. Most tournaments score points for contact with adequate force; sometimes a hit “this close” to the head also scores.
This is actually getting to be a good idea. We could have a casual karate tournament at MountainDope, if there’s enough competitors (and judges). Anybody else interested? If there’s enough people, we can start a thread hijack to work out the tourney format.
JC, exactly which town are you in? According to Mapquest, Leesburg is at the far end of the Dulles Toll Road extension. Which is not where I had thought it was. Meaning that I might actually be able to attend!!!
Hey, Airman played me in Star Wars TP last Halloween.
It CAN be done!
Sounds good. I’m in and offering rides to and from the estate.
I didn’t mean that we couldn’t play other people. We just have a hard time playing against each other.
Let’s just say that TP is, well, a form of, ah, well, foreplay in the Doors house.
Robin
Kinky.
This whole thing sounds like a real kick in the pants. I’ll try to make it, but no promises. (the introverted engineer in me shudders at the thought of a house full of people I don’t know)
Do you realize how often this is throwing me? I skim through the thread and see something like this and think, “But… but… but… I just want to get him drunk so Robin can take advantage of him!” and then realize that TP isn’t me.
I’ll definitely look into going, especially since the 28th is my birthday. Transportation is an issue, though.
I had an answer to this, but some things are better left unsaid.
Robin
Cleophus, like I said; we are available to carpool, though if we take Verrain and TP we’ll be full. I think Frank was volunteering his services as well.
Have no fear! We’re all anti-social engineer sorts too. You can play with the satellite broadband.
Ooh … and you’re already doing competitive sparring? Looks like you’ve been going for six months at most, based solely on belt level (TKD schools in the US are known for each following a different belt system. Where I went there was no striped yellow belt). That might put me, in terms of sheer knowledge, at a bit of an advantage, since I got to 1st Dan 9th Gup or so before I stopped going (combination of factors; partly, I was moving to another state for high school).
I’m getting kinda scared now (no offense meant here) that I might hurt you. Even with pads (see Ninjachick’s pit thread).
I’ve been doing TKD for ten months now. My school’s ranks start at 10 gup, and we get a new belt at each gup grade; late last year we phased out the colored tape on belts. (Note for the non-students: Student grades (gup in Korean, kyu in Japanese) start at a high number and go down to 1. Black belt degrees start at 1 Dan and go up.)
Don’t worry too much about hurting me, pun. I’ve been hurt plenty already. I’ve been hit in the nose twice, bruised my shins several times – through the pads! – and once recently blocked a backfist with my face. :eek:
You might have a skill advantage on me, especially if you did make 1 Dan. And you’ve definitely got a youth advantage on me. I wouldn’t mind sparring for practice or for a demo.
To other Philly area Dopers: Pun is kinda talking me into going; I can help with the car pools.
I made first dan 8th gup or so, but using a different belt system (no yellow stripe belt, for example). I cruised through the belt system in two years. I am told that this is rather fast, and some people I’ve met thought this indicated some lack of integrity of the school. Well, I dunno 'bout that. The guy who ran the school was an international and olympic TKD judge in addition to having been around it all his life.
I have the youth advantage, to be sure, but you have something as well: I have not been to a class since before I was in high school. I’ve practiced some, but I haven’t had any formal instruction since I was 13. I will want to understand the particular rules of engagement, so to speak, to ensure that A) I don’t throw anything at you that wouldn’t be fair (no back hook kicks, I assume? No tornado kicks either?:D) and B) it’s actually helping you to prepare for this as opposed to just being something funky you do.
Either practice or demo would be fine, though we’d have to find an area suitable for falling and such (trips okay, or not? You’ll have to let me know what’s ok and what’s not).