SPARKING TURTLE

I wish I could do this to people's words.

2011-11-18T00:47:00.001-08:00

Click to see the animated version!

I just came across this while watching Dragon Box Z Volume 7. Seeing it, I was very impressed! The immediate thought was that I'd love to do this to people who might cuss someone out over something stupid. I just pictured myself literally shoving their words back down their throats.

"What is ki?" From Dragonball Canada to Sparking Turtle!

2011-09-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

This article originally appeared on a website called Dragonball Canada. This website contained an article on ki that I really liked back when it was online. It was probably the best ki article from a Dragonball site that comes to memory! As the website no longer exists, I'm gonna go ahead and host the article right here on Sparking Turtle!

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" 'Ki', or 'Chi, is the vital force believed in Taoism and other Chinese, thought to be inherent in (born into) all things. The never-ending circulation of chi and a balance of its negative and positive forms in the body are essential in health, healing and strength, both mentally and physically. "

What's Ki?

----That is the defined meaning of the word(s) 'Ki', or 'Chi'. For the sake of this page, I'm going to refer to it as 'Ki'. To put it simply, Ki is your life force, the energy that engulfs your body and flows within it. It changes with your moods and surroundings as much as it affects them. In Dragonball, the usage of Ki is taken to the level where it is both visible and in such a physical state that it can cause great damage (as seen in many occasions). All living creatures possess this energy, even if it can not be seen (keep in mind that the idea of 'Ki' is a belief and it is up to the individual to believe in it's existence or not).

How is Ki used?

----Ki is used in real life as much as it's used in fantasy worlds such as Dragonball (and many other anime/manga due to the strong belief in Ki among the Japanese). Because of the strong affects it is said to have on a person's body, it is harnessed/controlled and used for things such as a increased strength, mental and emotional balance and even in techniques used to predict incoming dangers or stop the body from feeling pain. Of course, the use of Ki is greatly tied into the use and learning of martial arts. Bringing it out deals greatly with self-discipline and the proper mental and physical training.

----Because this is a Dragonball page, I will now begin focusing more on the aspect of Ki in Dragonball itself. Besides, I know most who bothered to read this far through the ki definition are probably starting to get bored ^_~ Here's a big colorful picture to at least brighten things up a bit :p

----In Dragonball, Ki becomes practically the main aspect of the series. It's usage ranges from all those flashy, destructive attacks and flying to the energy Goku collects to use his Genki Dama.

----Near the end of the Great Saiyaman saga, Gohan is presented with the task of teaching Videl to fly (or should I say forced with...). Because Videl doesn't know about Ki or how she is to use it, Gohan must first teach her how. This is the first time in the series that the method of bringing one's Ki out is directly addressed. The dubbed version of this episode wasn't far of from the original so I'm going to use that as my reference since most are more familiar with it.

"First you need to make yourself completely calm. Then, listen to the center of your body, reach into it...until you feel a pull; then...bring it out."

----Then watch in awe and frustration how easy Gohan makes it look! Ahem, all envy aside, thus is Gohan's explanation on bringing your ki out. This method, if done correctly, can actually have an affect on you in real life, either as a calming meditation or even to re-energize yourself. Does this necessarily mean Ki exists? Once again, this is opinion and belief... As an extra fact, Gohan also states that to fly using your Ki you must focus it throughout your body but concentrate it in your stomach. Once you get the off the ground bit down, it's the balance that needs the most work :p

----One of the biggest forms of Ki usage we see in Dragonball is powering up. The act of bringing forth the energy inside you that's not being used so you can...well...use it. Because of the great power levels we've got surfacing in the series, this can lead to come pretty fancy light shows. However, bringing forth this energy also requires the concentration to keep it out. It's not something that you just collect then don't need to hold onto. Later however, we are presented with the state of Super Saiyan-jin, a new form of ki usage and state. Below is a little diagram that will hopefully clear up some of the things I just said:

----For future reference I am aware I didn't put SSJ2 on there*... SSJ3 is just easier to distinguish in a small pic ^_^;; What I wanted to show in the picture is the thing I tried explaining above. The level of Super Saiyan is a new level of Ki, a state in which you don't need to have the same amount of focus as when you've merely powered up. It's kind of like putting a lock on the power to hold it in place ;p It's this that allowed Goku and Gohan to stay Super Saiyan so easily (well, minus the broken furniture...) during their days off in the Cell saga. While SSJ, you are able to continue powering up to greater strengths although all power above that of the regular SSJ form does require the extra focus and concentration to maintain.

----There is also the state that comes before reaching the level of Super Saiyan 2, achieved by Trunks, Goku and Vegeta in the Cell saga. It's pretty much just a state that's below the line of SSJ2, at the border but not yet crossing the line. As most should know, although my diagram accidentally may tell otherwise, Saiyans are able to instantly transform into Super Saiyan and don't need to power up until reaching that form.

----As you know, Ki is used in a variety of ways, focusing mostly on big, fancy, 'blow 'em up' blasts. These energy attacks range from the classic focused blast and changes of shape such as the Kienzan or even more creatively, Kamikaze Ghost Attack. Ki is also used defensively as both a shield from other attacks and as in moves such as Taiyoken (Solar Flare). There's also flight, as I mentioned a few paragraphs up. Controlling one's Ki also makes simple physical attacks such as punching and kicking much more powerful and devastating when making contact.

----Ki blasts can be fired from any part of the body because a person's Ki travels all through it. The hands are preferably used because of ease and better coordination. In the series, Ki blasts have also been seen being fired out of the eyes, mouth and even the feet (Goku fired a kamehameha with this method in Dragonball).

How is Ki detected/sensed and measured?

----The main way we see that Ki is detected in DB/Z/GT is the simple method of sensing it. People who have control over their own Ki are able to sense others. Know that feeling you get of being watched? Or knowing when somebody's in the room with you but you can't see or hear them? It works kinda like that, only more detailed and in-depth of course. Unlike the scouters, which I'll mention next, you can't give power levels an exact number just by sensing them, although it's a strong Ki from a weak Ki is very distinguishable. A massive Ki emanating from a person can even cause pain to those who're able to sense it.

----Aside from being able to determine the strength of the warrior, people are also able to tell whether or not the Ki belongs to someone who is evil or good. Because Ki changes with emotion, one can tell a person being 'evil' or 'good' by the feeling their Ki gives out by the emotions that dominate their being, such as hate, anger and envy as opposed to happiness and caring (and so forth and so forth). I could go more into the whole Ying & Yang concept but I think you get the point...

----The ability to sense Ki only becomes easier and more specific the stronger you get. In the early parts of DBZ, the fighters could sense a great power was coming but not be able to tell who it was. Near the end of Dragonball Z, people were able to not only sense power levels from all over the world but in most cases be able to tell who it is, even if the person's level has changed dramatically. Goku can even pick out people's Ki from around the universe, although finds it easier when in the other world. He uses this for purpose of his teleportation technique.

----Another well known method of Ki detection is the use of scouters. These were developed by the people who inhabited Planet Vegeta before the Saiyans took over. These devices are used by Frieza's men and the Saiyan. They are the small devices that attached to the side of a person's head. By pressing a button they are able to determine a numbered reading of the power level and how far it is, including which way it's heading. The flaw in the scouters however is the fact that it will short out, and usually explode, if the Ki it is detecting becomes too great. Due to this, the scouter technology becomes useless by the end of the Namek saga.

----In the Androids/Cell saga, the Androids also have the ability to sense Ki, although this does not seem to include Androids 17 & 18. This is probably the most detailed of the techniques because the Androids with this Ki sensing ability can also tell which fighter it is, including a database on their fighting techniques and levels. Unlike the scouters, despite this form of detection also works with machinery, it doesn't seem to malfunction when the power reading becomes too great.

----Lastly, in the Buu saga, another form of Ki detection is introduced, although only for a while. This system works kind of like a scale, having small 'devices' which measure a person's energy level when pointed at them. Babidi, Supopovitch and Yamu use these devices. Babidi also uses one to measure Buu's level to determine the length of time it will take him to fully re-awaken. This form of measuring Ki is also not in Earth measurements so for anyone other then the aliens who use it, it's rather useless.

And so ends my page on Ki...turned out much longer then I had thought. I hope it wasn't too confusing for you ^_^;;

* Image being referenced in original article unavailable.

Journey to the West (Part 3)

2011-09-04T00:59:00.000-07:00

After an evening of MMA matches and pizza as well as a good night of sleep, the world looked great and I felt like a new man! It did everyone an entire universe of good of good to get the rest and relaxation we had after all that anxiety over packing and cleaning from the day before. Now that we were all rested up and ready to take on the next part of our trip, it was time to say farewell to Wichita and get moving toward toward our next goal: New Mexico!

Even as early as this far into our trip, the green farmland I was used to seeing on either side of the road was starting to slowly change into a more natural green landscape and even further into a flat brown landscape. Almost like the deserts in the Dragonball universe, except without all the cool mushroom stones and random plateaus that don't seem to exist where roads do. It was pretty neat when I first started noticing it. Too bad it was pretty much all I was going to see all the way from Oklahoma until we just about reached California.

The only thing that really slowed us down during our second day was an amazingly brutal car wreck that had slowed down traffic due to the clean-up process. After sitting around for about maybe half an hour (it felt a lot longer than that), we did get a peek at the car itself. Honestly, it was such a mangled ball of twisted metal that was only recognizable as a car because you could still sort of see the seats. We were pretty sure that whoever was in there didn't live through the accident. Especially considering that the even the semi it ran into was pretty much turned completely sideways. We all felt at that point we needed to stop and rest for a few to make sure we didn't get unfocused from too much driving and see the same happen to us.

When we did stop, it was at a gas station that didn't have tacos (sorry, Connor!). We had asked about the wreck to the attendant and she had said that the wreck we had passed by actually happened about six hours before we passed it and they were still cleaning it up! News did get to her, though, that the people in the mangled car (or truck... not sure by that point) did happen to survive! I don't know what kind of condition they were in when taken from the scene, but it was good to know that at least nobody was killed.

From that point onward during the day the landscape became pretty predictable and nothing really stopped us from getting through Oklahoma's panhandle a small corner of Texas (where we stopped at a Dairy Queen), and finally into New Mexico. After not taking a left turn at Albuquerque, We had gotten through to some small city (I don't remember the name of) and managed to get a hotel room for the night. Again, it was time for a bit more sleep so we would be ready for the final stretch of the trip to Costa Mesa, California!

The next morning came around, and we were finally ready to make the final stretch of the trip. After a boring day of flat brown landscape on all sides, we were finally ready to see something we didn't have in Indiana: mountains! Now, mountains may not be too exciting for some people, but in Indiana we don't have anything like that sticking up from the horizon and we don't have anything like that to look at while driving. So, for us, it was actually pretty neat to finally make our way through the mountains.

The day wasn't really all fun and games, though. We had a very strict schedule to adhere to. Not only did we have to stop as little as possible, but we had to hope for no distractions, no dangers, and no technological failures. The car we took to drive to California wasn't really in the best condition for going over 2,000 miles in three days and it was starting to show. All we could do was hope that nothing bad would happen on the last day of our trip.

Aside from that, my phone was the only one capable of keeping track of where we currently were and it was the only phone that, out of mine and Heather's, wasn't dead halfway through the day. We'd have used a car charger for the phones, but the fuses are messed up and the car charger would've blown out the air conditioner's fuse if it was used. Heather didn't want the windows down with the cats in the car, either. So, I was very cautiously trying to conserve energy while keeping track of everything and letting our landlord know where we were so that we'd have a way to get into our new place once we got there.

After several uneventful hours that were tense only due to making sure we were in the right place and keeping on schedule, we'd finally made it through the mountains, to the coastal town we were moving to, and to our apartment building! We made it with only a few minutes to spare before the office closed, too! After parking, I made my way to the front desk, pulled out my debit card that I had all the money we needed to get into our apartment (and a super high limit so I could pay it all at once), and was ready to move in.

"Sorry, we only take cashier's checks."

Wait. What?! No! It can't be!

To be continued.

Journey to the West (Part 2)!

2011-08-09T23:34:00.001-07:00

After one last sparring session with Oompa and getting our new furniture, it was finally time to leave Indiana!

In the original Journey to the West, the group consisted of a monkey man, a priest, a demon, and a bandit. In Dragonball, the group consisted of Goku, Bulma, Oolong, Yamcha, and Puerh. In Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, the group consisted of Monkey, Trip, and Pigsy. You can see similarities in all three groups of characters. In my case, my group was a bit different:

Josh -- Myself, a martial artist and a geek with a spirit for adventure (the reason for this trip).
Heather -- The girlfriend, a Tai Chi student, geek, and anthropologist.
Frank -- An old friend (and geek) from my High School, we trained together as rivals at the same gym.
Chris -- Heather's mom. She bought me a Wii back in 2006.
Connor -- Heather's teenage brother. He's obsessed with tacos.

Luckily for me, I was able to have all of these people with me from the beginning of the trip rather than picking them up as I went along. This is great because, even though I gave away a lot of my unnecessary collectibles and junk to my friend Bill, there was still Heather's stuff, the cats, and the furniture. This left us with Heather, Frank, myself, and the cats in the car with Chris and Connor in the moving truck.

The morning got off to a rough start.

The first day of our trip had to be the most hectic and stressful. The characters of Journey to the West, Dragonball, or Enslaved weren't exactly the best of friends at the beginning of their trip. Due to us being so tired from packing, I sort of felt the same way toward everyone around me despite the fact that we were already close friends and family. Frank is like a brother and Heather's family members have loved me since before Heather and I were even officially dating! However, lack-of-sleep and preparing for such a long journey can really have its toll on you.

On top of the stress of packing, one of Heather's classmates from her Taijiquan (Tai Chi) group is the owner of this awesome cupcake shop and she had made Heather and I some especially special awesome cupcakes that would normally be super expensive (for cupcakes, anyway). We were saving them until we got on the road as sort of a marker that our trip had started on a good note. However, in the cleaning of things, they were knocked onto the floor into the only remaining dirty spot in such a way that the "Five Second Rule" could never apply to. Needless to say, the stress combined with our good luck charm of a snack being destroyed just before the start of the trip made Heather and I pretty furious. By that point, we were more reluctantly working for a greater goal together than being the friends and family we should've been.

Finally underway!

On the flip side, though, the moving truck we had paid for wasn't in so the truck rental company we went with was nice enough to give us the next size up in their line of trucks for the same price as the one we had originally intended to rent. We needed it, too, because Heather isn't so easy to give up her possessions as I am and our new furniture was a little bigger than we had initially expected. So, that really turned out a lot better than we expected it to.

After finally getting everything packed into the truck and getting everyone on the road, I finally started to calm down a bit. Even without my Good Omen Cupcakes, it was really nice finally saying goodbye to Terre Haute, Indiana and setting off on my long-awaited Journey to the West (some of which I Tweeted about back when it happened). While the first day's trip to Wichita, Kansas wasn't super exciting in itself. We did go over a river in Missouri that had dangerously high water level but I didn't even know about how dangerous it was until I was told about it on Twitter by Hujio of the Dragonball site Kanzentai. There weren't any bandits, demons, or anything like that. There was Connor wanting Taco Bell every time we passed through a town and our cats sort of flipping out over being in a car for around ten hours, but that's hardly adventurous.

When we did get to Wichita, there was pizza waiting for me. Connor didn't get his tacos, but I got one of my favorite things ever and that was a big help in turning a crappy morning and a long, taxing car ride into an awesome evening of well-deserved relaxation with pizza and MMA matches on TV before some welcome sleep.

In the next installment, I'll tell you about the rest of the trip.

Journey to the West (Part 1)

2011-07-29T19:18:00.002-07:00

It's certainly been awhile, hasn't it? About a month and a half, I think!

Since I last wrote anything, a whole lot has gone on! So much, in fact, that it really hasn't been all that difficult living that more simple life I was talking about in my previous series. More simple foods, more simple ways to pass the time, and more simple ways to generally enjoy life! I still haven't gotten those Dragonbox DVDs put away yet, though. More on that later. Really, I should be starting at the beginning.

How about I start with my preparing to leave Indiana?

Not long after I had started trying to simplify my life to see Dragon World through my own eyes, I had gotten an offer from my friend, Oompa, to grab some of his furniture he wasn't using to take with us to California. Oompa, for those of you who aren't personal friends of mine, is a good friend of mine that, after I kicked the crap out of him one day (in the friendliest way possible), had decided that we needed to hang out more so I could teach him how to fight. While he was already starting to get into the swing of making working out his main hobby, he figured learning martial arts would also help get him in shape and also make him a bit tougher. Plus, he found it to be really fun. Essentially, I befriended him the same way people become friend in Dragonball: by punching each other in the face! The only difference being that he wasn't a total jerk beforehand. In all reality, he has a ton of friends and is one of the most agreeable, likeable, and funny guys ever.

Enough about that, though. The dude had free furniture and our current loveseat at the time was super tiny and falling apart! So, we made a trip about 65 miles Northeast to a large town outside of Indianapolis called Avon. It was sort of backtracking, but Oompa had planned on moving to a smaller place on the South side of Indianapolis and didn't need the furniture anymore. Plus, the $40 in gas was nothing compared to how much a new loveseat and chair would've cost us. Besides, there was one more really important reason that we needed to go there.

Ever since Oompa and I started hanging out, he had been making regular trips every other weekend to Terre Haute (where I lived at the time) in order to spar with me. On his own time, he would work out, train in technique with the heavy bag and the grappling dummy, and go running. On the weekends he visited me, we would spar and he would try out new things on me while polishing up his basic technique. During and after sparring, I would give him tips on how to improve. He would then take all of that home and continue practicing until we met up again.

The real important reason behind going to Avon was an impromptu sparring session with Oompa, who had just got done sparring with our mutual friend Frank. It wasn't anything too hardcore. We probably only really went at about 30%. We both had plenty of time to parry and counter each other, use proper technique, and hold a bit of a conversation about whatever while we punched, kicked, and grappled. Honestly, it was a really nice break from the general stress that comes with packing up for a big move.

After packing up the furniture and having the sparring session, Heather and I said our goodbyes to Oompa and left. As he had been busy with work, he wasn't able to go on the trip with me, but he certainly does have plans to come visit me one day. The greatest part about it was, about 15 minutes into the trip back to Terre Haute, I had gotten a text from him that went kind of like this:

"Our sparring session reminded me of the end of GT where Goku and Krillin were sparring for one last time! LOL!"

I never really was a fan of GT in general, but that was a pretty cool sentiment considering that we're both Dragonball fans, we started hanging out in a very Dragonball-like way, we both trained together in martial arts, and I was getting ready to go on my own Dragonball-inspired Journey to the West.

Thanks, Oompa!

DBZ Abridged 24!

2011-06-30T00:26:00.002-07:00

DBZ Dragon Box 7 Cover!

2011-06-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Not much to say except that it looks really good!


Click to enlarge.

Source: Daizenshuu EX Forums.

The Simple life: A Dragonball Story (Part 3)

2011-06-09T22:05:00.001-07:00

I have a confession to make.

I didn't get rid of the Dragonbox sets just yet.

Part of it comes from the fact that I just didn't make it to where I was going to get rid of them at. It's not like I'd just toss them in the trash. I'd sell them to or give them to someone who would take care of and extensively enjoy such a perfect Dragonball Z anime collection! The other part comes from the nostalgic feeling that comes from hearing Dragonball Z music (of the Japanese variety).

I think what this means is that, as I'm a fan of the movies, I'll just get the supposed Dragonbox Movies box that will be coming after the series is done being released. That'll give help me whenever I accidentally leave my nostalgia goggles on and need a fix of the original DBZ.

As for the Dragonbox volumes I currently own, I put them in the bottom of a box full of stuff and I'm going to let them sit there for at least 30 days. If, by that point, I'm still second guessing throwing those out then I'll go ahead and keep them around. While I bought them for all the wrong reasons in the first place, they've become something that I've apparently become attached to enough that I can't get rid of them even though I only watch very select episodes of them (like when Goku arrives on Namek or when he and Piccolo try learning to drive). If I don't second-guess the decision then I'll just get rid of them or I'll have forgotten about them and they'll just sit in that box until I finally get around to opening it one day.

Speaking of boxes, I found something I could focus on when I was boxing things up. Something that will keep me from turning into another bored consumer trying to fulfill the void from a lack-of-adventure with random games, movies, and such that I'll be tired of in just a few days or a few weeks. Since my life was lacking adventure and since this site is dedicated to taking ideas from Dragonball into a real life perspective (ideas like friendship, friendly rivalries, adventurous spirit, bettering yourself, etc.), I figured I would go on my own adventure.

I'm going to go on my very own Journey to the West!

Right now, I currently live in Terre Haute, Indiana. It's a small town in about 80 miles south west of Indianapolis and it's where I've spent the past five years of my life. As this seems pretty decently East and Dragonball is based on "Journey to the West," I figured I could take my own journey into the West and move to the city of Costa Mesa, California! There, I can find a lot more to do in relation to martial arts, there's a lot more variety in terms of terrain, weather, and surrounding areas to explore, and I'll never have to worry about the Winter months making me lazy!

In short, I'm gonna take a road trip to California, take notes, video, and photos of the drive, and post up entries so I can have my own Journey to the West story to tell you guys! After I get there, I'm gonna find some great training and be able to compete in a lot more tournaments! This'll give me a lot more things to talk about on this website as it's not too hard to relate traveling and martial arts training to an adventure about martial artists who do a lot of traveling.

So get ready! I'll keep you updated on my own Journey to the West and the training that comes after!

Our route to the West: Terre Haute, Indiana to Costa Mesa, California!

The Simple Life: A Dragonball Story (Part 2)

2011-06-03T17:58:00.003-07:00

When I last left off, I had come to the conclusion that y life was too complex. I spread myself too thin on too many projects, all of my possessions had come to own me (as opposed to me owning possessions), and the best way to go about fixing this problem was to take a hint from the lives of Dragonball characters, cutting a lot of the excess fat from my life, and find a real focus with the series and with my life in general.

Since Part 1 of this series, I've carefully gone through my home and found several excess things that I'm going to get rid of. Old workout supplies I don't use anymore, martial arts training books that I've memorized to the point that I don't even need to keep them around anymore; games, comics, and DVDs I haven't watched in over a year, and a lot of clothing. Before today, I owned probably close to 50 (maybe more!) t-shirts that I've acquired since around 2005. Some from even earlier! Now, I own about 15 shirts for casual wear, working out, and for nicer occasions. As this is a Dragonball site, I won't get too specific about most of the other stuff. I will, however, let you know what Dragonball stuff I kept and get rid of:

- What I Kept -

- What I Didn't Keep -

Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box One
Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box Two
Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box Three
Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box Four
Dragon Ball Z - Movie Boxed Set (Dead Zone/The Tree of Might/The World's Strongest)
Super Dragonball Z
Dragon Ball: Season One
Scouter Replicas
Senzu Jar Replica
Dragonball Z: The Anime Adventure Game
Dragon Ball Z Book 2: The Frieza Saga
Dragonball "Kame" Dougi T-Shirt
Random DBZ Action Figures
Dragonball Z Kai Soundtrack (Vol. 1)

There might be a couple things I missed in either direction (I had a lot of stuff) and I omitted some things I sold awhile back for different reasons, but that's pretty much the long and short of it. Now, I know a lot of you are saying, "You got rid of that? That, too?! And that?!! Josh, you've got to be the most stupid fan I've ever met!" The thing is, I had good reason to get rid of it all. Either I didn't use it anymore, I was keeping it because I was looking at it through my nostalgia goggles and not through my real current opinion of the material, or I just bought it for the wrong reasons altogether. So maybe you can understand that, as I don't do tabletop gaming I wouldn't use the Adventure Books and as a guy who doesn't really like action figures anymore I don't really need to keep action figures around my apartment.

Despite all of that, I'm sure that a big one people are wondering about is the Dragon Box. Anyone who knows me knows that my primary way of enjoying Dragonball is the manga, which I currently own all 42 VIZ volumes of. Next on my list is Dragonball Kai, which many know that I like it to a pretty good degree. Beyond that, I'm not immune to the concept of collectibles so I own a few things, but for a very long time I haven't been much of a fan of the original anime. However, I was getting the Dragon Box releases, anyway? Why would I do that?

Simple reason is that I was angry for fans of the anime because of the controversial Season Set releases of Dragonball Z. I was so mad that when FUNimation announced the Dragonbox, I started buying them in order to vote with my wallet out of some sort of misplaced sense of duty to my fellow Dragonball fans! Had the Season Sets never turned out the way they did, they probably would've been something that ever made a blip on my radar (just like the original single releases). While I did get plenty of enjoyment out of them, the novelty of FUNimation getting it right after such a blunder quickly wore off and I went back to reading the manga the vast majority of the time. Because of that, I got over them and decided to let them out of my life. The only reason I kept them as long as I did was because I knew that some of you would freak out if I got rid of them.

You might've noticed that I didn't get rid of everything. That's not what this was about. While Son Goku was happy with his Nyoi-Bo and his 4-Star Dragonball, that doesn't mean that I should force myself to be happy with the same number of things or the same things. A big part of doing something like this is wanting it to happen. If you want to make your main focus collecting lots of things or complaining about the latest change made to the franchise on a message board and that sort of thing makes you happy, then do it and be happy! For me, being happy consists more of living the lifestyle than it does collecting every new way to experience the same story again and again, but it definitely doesn't consist of eradicating Dragonball from my life completely.

As for how I go about "living the lifestyle," that's a story you'll have to hear in Part 3.

The Simple Life: A Dragonball Story (Part 1)

2011-06-01T01:01:00.003-07:00

Many people have said over the years that Dragonball is a very simple story. Some call it overly simple and choose to "move on" and watch "real manga/anime like Naruto" in regards to how simple the adventure of Goku and his friends are. Others choose to explain ten (real life) years of Dragonball history in such a way that it comes off looking much more complicated than it really is (except time travel theories which are always complicated).

Personally, I surprisingly side with people who dislike Dragonball in saying that the series is pretty simple. However, I don't see it as a bad thing at all! In fact, I would prefer to have a simple life! That doesn't mean that I want to have a boring life, though. If anything, the characters in Dragonball have anything but a boring life. Whether it's an adventure seeking out the Dragonballs, a big tournament to participate in, an amazingly strong villain to overcome, or just the simple joy of physical activity such as martial arts training, the life of a Dragonball character isn't too complicated, but it is far from boring.

Coming from this angle, it seems that Dragonball characters seem to have living a simple yet adventurous and fulfilling life down to some sort of science! So, I figured I'd learn from the characters and the story by attempting to simplify my life as well! In attempt to do this, I did a simple Google search and found a good place to start: Zenhabits' 21 Easy Hacks to Simply Your Life.

From the list in that article, I'm going to pick a small sample of things I can start doing almost immediately so I can get myself on the right track and maybe graduate to a bigger list like Zenhabits' The Simple Living Manifesto.

Go media free -- There are a lot of different versions of Dragonball currently out there right now for US-based fans. There's the Dragonball manga in three formats (graphic novels, VIZBIG, and VIZ's digital manga); Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT in Season Sets; Dragonball Z in Dragon Box format; and Dragonball Z Kai on Blu-ray and DVD. Of the seven ways to collect the series, I have one complete graphic novel collection, two incomplete DVD collections, and one incomplete Blu-ray collection. On top of that, I spend a lot of time reading about and talking about Dragonball on the Internet. To simplify my life, a lot of this has to go. Soon, I'll need to choose which are most important to me and stick with that. Contrary to my irregular writing schedule, I won't be giving up this site, but I will be making myself decide which version(s) of Dragonball I really need in my life.
Limit yourself to one project -- Every time I get this new and great idea on an amazing project, I impulsively get started on it and a lot of times I never finish it. It could be a writing project, a video project, and trip I want to go on, or a training goal! I stretch myself too thin and nothing gets done! So, in order to make sure I actually start getting things done, I have to focus on one project at a time! This doesn't mean that I have to give up everything else to do one thing, but this does mean that everything else goes on the back-burner until I get done with the first thing or it means I fuse projects together to make them one awesome super-project (something I'll elaborate on in future installments).
Limit yourself to three tasks -- Since I have a problem with putting too much on my plate at once, I should simplify my daily tasks to a smaller number of must-do tasks in order to get more accomplished rather than chipping away at several little projects irregularly and not doing well at anything I do happen to finish. For example, I can make a post-work day out of writing an article, practicing martial arts for one hour, and getting the laundry done. That, or I can make a day out of reviewing a product on video, making guidelines for an improv video, and jogging a couple of miles. After I finish those three things, I can either call it a day or get something else done if I feel like it.
30-day rule -- Another thing I have a problem with is impulse buying. It's not that it puts me in financial trouble or anything. I always make sure I have money for the important things before buying anything that isn't a necessity. Instead, what happens is that I get bogged down in possessions that either consume all of my time and take me away from my projects or I never end up using the products I buy at all and they just go to waste sitting on a shelf. My unfinished Dragonball collections are a great example! So, from now on, I should wait 30 days from the time something becomes available to me and see how badly I want it. If I still really want it after a month, I can go ahead and get it. If I've gotten over it, then that's one less unimportant thing I've accidentally wasted time on.

Now, these four things are more or less guidelines and not strict rules at this point. As everyone is a bit different so these four ideas listed above may evolve throughout this series to be more efficient to my specific wants and needs. However, these are a good starting point as to what to think about over the next several days as my life goes through some serious changes for the better; better for me to accomplish exciting things and better for you so you have more articles and videos to watch from me.

Lastly, for those who are wondering about what I'm going to do about my Dragonball media collection, I'll give you a hint: I really like Dragon Ball Box Set (Vol.s 1-16): Volumes 1 - 16 and Dragon Ball Z Box Set (Vol.s 1-26): Volumes 1 - 26. Also, I'm not about to get rid of Dragon Ball: The Complete Illustrations.

Head on over to Part 2!

DBZ Abridged 21!

2011-04-05T00:12:00.002-07:00

http://www.teamfourstar.com/page-episode-listI know I've missed out on posting several episodes of DBZ Abridged, but here's the latest. Underneath the video is a list to the other episodes so you can catch up on what you might've missed.

DBZ Abridged Video Listing

New Genki Dama Video! Watch to help Japan!!!

2011-03-29T01:44:00.002-07:00

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE - "GENKIDAMA" Saves the world, please click!

2011-03-18T01:40:00.000-07:00

Guile's Theme Goes with Everything

2010-10-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

There's sort of a trend going on right now called Guile's Theme Goes with Everything. You can find a whole lot of examples that come from anime (including Dragonball Z) as well as other TV shows, movies, and such. I actually went to TubeDubber and made one for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Anywho, recently a new one was made and uploaded by Lanipator, who plays several characters in DBZ Abridged including Vegeta and Kuririn, and it goes to the insert song from when Gohan was dreaming during an early scene in Dragonball Z: The World's Strongest. It's quickly become a favorite of mine so I figured I'd help spread how awesome it is.

It's over 9,000!! DBZ fans finally learn that BP is useless!

2010-10-02T12:08:00.001-07:00

Hey, kids! I know that "over 9,000" is an old meme, but there's something really interesting about this video that I think more Dragonball fans need to understand: Power Levels are useless! It was what gave the Earthlings an advantage over Freeza's men in the first place and that point was touched upon many times. I think that everyone who holds Power Levels on some pedestal should really pay attention from 3:40 onward.

This video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK! There's some reference to when Oprah was trolled with the whole "over 9,000 penises" thing. People at school or work may take offense to it.

Kamehameha! The delusional otaku attacks!

2010-09-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

First, a bit of background: Back between about 1998 and 2003-ish there was a small movement of Dragonball Z fans who thought that they actually could train themselves to do attacks from the show! So, in response, one of my old online friends created a challenge to combat the claims of these Otaku and their "martial art" (which they called Radki). Only one guy ever took up the challenge. This is the video of that challenge.

Sorry for the low resolution. This video was made a long time ago. I kept it around for archival sake and just realized how much it applies to the idea of combining Dragonball and martial arts training... only in a much different way than I'm doing it.

People come and go.

2010-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

I always find it interesting when people start musing about certain Dragonball characters sitting on the sidelines more and more as time passes. This sidelining can come from simply not being powerful enough (Chaozu), retiring from serious training (Yamcha), or simply having different motives that take you elsewhere in life than the rest of your friends (Tenshinhan). Or maybe you just end up going back to the future and taking care of your own mess. Who knows?

The lives of my martial arts friends and I are changing in many ways right now and it made me start to notice that a similar thing happens in real life. While what happens in real life isn't necessarily due to the popularity of Super Saiyans over humans, it is strikingly similar!

I've had friends who settle down into normal lives and stop training, friends who have stopped training due to injury, friends who come back after injury and start training again, friends who simply stop training altogether due to lack-of-interest, friends who can't train because of school and/or work, and friends who kept training but had moved to a different area and weren't as involved with my own life anymore.

I've also been the guy who had school or work in the way, the guy who got injured, the guy who came back after injuries, the guy with a normal life, the guy who got burnt out and lost interest after over-training, and the guy who moved away.

Of course, there are other reasons to stop training, but those are some of the main examples I've personally experienced.

Also, like Dragonball, I've had as many new martial artists come into my life as I've seen get sidelined and eventually leave my life. Recently, someone came back from injury. Another guy that I've known for awhile has more free time now. A third guy I've met before has started training with me because we're on the same schedule now. A fourth guy, who I have been friends with for many years, just started training within the past several months and frequently visits me from out-of-town for sparring sessions.

With Dragonball (and Shounen in general) having somewhat of a parallel in my own life in the ways of people coming, going, and changing roles as the series progresses (such as Krillin, Piccolo, and Vegeta), I can't really come to dislike the way characters eventually get sidelined or removed entirely as the 35 years that the story of Dragonball took place went by (not counting flashbacks to before Goku and Bulma met).

In the 26 years that I've been alive, the 22 years that I've been involved with martial arts in one way or another, and the 10 years that I've been training under formal instructors I've had this happen to me many more times than it ever happened in Dragonball.

As Shounen as it is to do such a thing with characters, it's also actually quite realistic in both the martial arts and in life itself. Just think of all the friends, classmates, and co-workers you've met and have yet to meet and think of how many actually stayed an active participant in your life so far.

People come and go. It's as true in real life as it is in Dragonball and I can't hate Dragonball for that.

Training News!

2010-05-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

For all of you who follow me (all 12 of you), here's an update on where I've been and why I'm not seen online as much as before:

Lately, I turned off mobile updates on Twitter, I've stopped posting on Daizenshuu EX, I've cut down on the fighting games, I've cut down on watching martial arts anime and manga, and I've started devoting most of my time to training the way the devoted fighting protagonists of Dragonball Z or Street Fighter would.

I've been doing cardio training everyday, and I've been alternating on weight training and martial arts training most days (some days I've doubled up on weight training and martial arts training) while giving myself one day a week of rest. Don't worry, I haven't been overworking myself. I be sure to keep everything at a pace and intensity that allow me to train the next day without any sort of injury.

Over the past week, though, I've been training with a small group of martial artists, mostly grapplers who feel they have something to learn from me as a striker, and have been getting a lot of training in. At first, things were a bit unorganized but in our most recent session we've started to find our way and have come up with a standard program of sorts so that we can cover everything necessary and be more complete fighters.

One of my goals this past week was to train to stay ahead of my friend, Brandon, who has been coming to town every couple of weeks to pressure test the Grappling and Kickboxing that he's been learning back home against someone with a lot more experience than him. While he is better at Grappling than me (when not allowing strikes), he's shorter than me and I enjoy a nice reach advantage over him. Because he's been picking up on the strategies I've been giving him and advancing in his Kickboxing at an amazing rate due to gaining experience, I've started having to come up with new strategies to stay ahead of the game and make sure I can continue winning. However, I've some to realize that there's been a bit of an error in my motivations.

Amongst all the sparring matches in the most recent training session on Friday, May 21st, I went up against someone who was much taller than me and easily took away the range advantage that I share against most people who want a match against me. I ended up feeling just like Brandon when he goes up against me! I overcame this, though, and learned the importance of changing my range while being able to employ some recent techniques I learned that add to my strategy of creating and exploiting my blind spots for my opponent.

After this session, I realized exactly what's been missing from Brandon's training when I give him tips. This was missing because I am almost always at a reach advantage against whoever I am facing. Now that I've seen things from his viewpoint, I can help him advance much more by making sure he can learn these same strategies that allowed me to overcome an opponent with a much longer striking range than myself.

The real truth that I realized, however, had nothing to do with how to overcome such an opponent. The real truth came from when I realized that I was focusing too much on defeating Brandon and not enough to bringing him up to my level of fighting. Brandon is a friend and would make a great friendly rival if I can give him the opportunity to gain the right experience and insight. While the motivation to stay ahead of him isn't bad in itself, focusing only on that at the level he is at is detrimental to his growth as a martial artist no matter if I teach him my newest strategies after a sparring match or not.

The real focus of our sparring is to express ourselves through our fists and, through that, help each other grow as martial artists. With this in mind, my real intent in our next sparring match should be for me to teach him how to overcome range differences the same way I overcame them. From there, he can develop those strategies I learned into something he can call his own. My teaching him these skills allows me to really examine the strategies and refine them on my own, too. The end result is that his growing skill forces me to keep learning. I don't keep learning for the sake of defeating Brandon, though. Instead, I keep learning for the sake of learning in itself and for the sake of having more to teach him when he comes to town to train with me.

In short, I shouldn't stay ahead for the sake of my own victories. I should stay ahead for the sake of his learning!

In other news, if you'd like to keep track of my training, I've been using a website called Skimble to keep track of my progress in this venture since around May 15th. If you want to see the complete details on exactly which exercises I do, for how long, what my martial arts training focuses on, and why I do certain exercises then I suggest you follow the link and read my timeline. If you join Skimble, feel free to add me as a friend. We can compete to see who is the most active!

TFS DBZ Abridged Episode 14

2010-04-29T11:52:00.001-07:00

Ron Reed Open Tournament

2010-04-19T18:21:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, I competed in Gi Jiujitsu and in Intermediate Self Defense in the Ron Reed Open here in Terre Haute, IN. I hadn't been to a traditional martial arts (read "tournaments that don't have full-contact sparring") for about a decade so the two categories were completely new to me.

In the first competition, the Jiujitsu, I didn't place at all. Out of five people, I placed fifth. Haha!

Grappling was never my strong suit, everything I knew was Nogi (no uniform) and this was a Gi (uniform) competition, and I was the only guy who didn't have a corner or two to coach me along the way. Wearing the gi meant that people just grabbed onto my clothes the whole time so I couldn't do anything I was good at. The nice thing, though, is that it's apparently really hard to make me pass out. I was pretty close at one point when I was caught in a Tepee Choke, but I somehow got out of it at the last second.

The guy who got first place, who put me in that choke, came by after the competition was over and let me know how impressed he was with my ability to stay awake when being choked and how good my defense was in general. Considering I've only been grappling off and on for a few months and went into a completely different style of competition to what I trained in, I'm very proud of how hard I made my opponents work.

In the Self Defense, I did pull 2nd place, though. The guy I lost to was very traditional acting, his self defense techniques were flashy and rehearsed, and he sacrificed intensity to be stylish. I was very casual in introducing myself to the judges, my techniques were pure practical reaction to the techniques being thrown at me, they were hard-hitting, I was very intense about it as if I were really defending myself, and the techniques themselves were things I could teach someone to do over a couple of days.

Naturally, I didn't take home first. Judges at these types of tournaments like style over substance and I was completely substance. The crowd gave some interesting reactions, though. They could tell that what I did could very easily work in reality and they could tell that I knew what I was doing. So, again, I don't really care about the placing. I'm just glad that I got the reaction I did from the crowd.

Overall, I don't think I'm going to another one of those for awhile. I just wanted to see how things had changed over the past decade. Pretty much, the more things change the more they stay the same. From now on, I think I'm going to start prepping myself for going into a full-contact Karate school like Kyokushinkai or Enshin. I love the rules (they remind me of how I sparred as a kid), I love the conditioning, and taking on a style that started with Mas Oyama's ideas would be awesome as he's one of my heroes.

So, that's the plan! I won't rule out MMA competition just yet, but I haven't been getting enough Jiujitsu training lately due to my work schedule and I refuse to compete in something like MMA unless I have the proper training going into it. I don't wanna look like some of the guys who go to those amateur MMA events and make total fools out of themselves because they didn't have the proper training.

If I can't do MMA, I'll at least be conditioning myself for when I move to California next year and end up in a place near a full-contact Karate school.

Kikoho!

2010-04-14T10:47:00.004-07:00

The following comes almost word-for-word from a post I made on Daizenshuu EX concerning the translation of Tenshinhan's technique the Kikoho. The translation then got me talking about the actual nature of the attack. Very little has been changed from the original post I made.

Kikou is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Qigong (or Ch'i Kung, pronounced chee-gong). Qigong, literally meaning "energy work") is described as a meditative practice that sometimes involves slow movements (kind of like Taijiquan/Tai Chi) specifically for the purpose of improving qi circulation throughout one's own body.

While there are many different types of Qigong, it's obvious that to keep this focused on Tenshinhan we ought to turn our attention to Martial Qigong. As the name implies, this takes the qi circulation business and goes a step further by learning how to apply qi to martial arts techniques. When qi and muscular power are mixed properly through focus, proper breathing, and proper body movement you create something called jin (martial power). There are some exercises involving the use of candles to help with focus, projecting qi out through the fingertips (about an inch or two), and combining the two skills into a punch to extinguish the candle from a distance that increases over time as you get more skilled. According to old legend, once you can extinguish a candle from a certain distance you'll be able to punch someone without touching them. Realistically speaking, you'll be able to knock someone's head off without much trouble.

As the Kikouho is a kiai type attack, my general idea is that Tenshinhan uses the focus techniques to condense the area his kiai to make it that much more powerful in a smaller area than, say, Goku's kiai against Jees and Baata. That sort of skill is exactly how he was able to temporarily hold back Cell. He's basically taking an unfocused explosion of qi (such as Piccolo's Full-Power Shockwave he used to destroy the 23rd Budokai arena, also a kiai-type attack) and focusing it in a specific direction just like how a cannon or gun focuses an explosion in one direction to force out a projectile, hence "Energy Work Cannon/Gun." That's all just me overthinking it, though. I have no clue why Toriyama actually called a condensed kiai a Kikoho.

Some further reading:

- A modern scientific theory on qi
- Basic qi and Qigong concepts
- Generating martial power (jin)
- Regulating breathing for circulating qi
- Candle training for qi and jin
- Dragonball attack classifications

DBZ Abridged Episode 13!

2010-04-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

DBZ Abridged Episode 13 is now up!

Real Life Kamehameha

2010-03-19T09:28:00.006-07:00

Step to the outside of the grab or strike and strike the ear and the liver simultaneously with your palms. This picture was taken from the Bubishi: The Classic Manual of Combat. Below I've linked to the Bubishi as well as a companion text to make the original more understandable. Grab a copy if you want to learn stuff like this!

Looks surprisingly familiar to you Dragonball fans, doesn't it?

DBZ Abridged Episode 12

2010-03-02T19:47:00.002-08:00

Take a look!

Why we train! Don't just sit and watch; do it!!

2010-02-19T08:06:00.010-08:00

Hey, guys. Sorry for the lack of updates in the past week. I've been bogged down with a lot of things and I've been using my website time to make and edit videos for the site. To summarize since last time I posted, though: I'm still grappling, I still help the self-defense class, I'm still a nerd, and I was told at an MMA lesson by the guy who founded Martial Concepts that I have an excellent striking game. So, despite not having much time for updates, life is good.

Anywho, onto bigger, better things.

I was on Facebook recently and I saw a post titled "for my martial arts friends" written by, obviously, one of my martial arts friends. I felt that it was a really good post because it sort of summed up a big part of why Sparking Turtle exists! So, here it is:

I recently rediscovered this quote that I swiped long ago from my lil' sis's blog (which she found on the mma.tv Atama Forum), and thought I'd pass it along. Sometimes it's hard to explain to people why we do this...why we aren't content with what constitutes a "normal" life. I expect that you also have conversations like the one below frequently!

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From Snigglefish: "The hardest thing to explain:
Them: "What are you doing wed? Want to go to the game..I have free tix?"
Me: "No, I have class"
Them: "Cmon...you can skip it..its going to be fun...FREE tix..you always go to BJJ"

No, I can't skip. I don't want to skip. Family, work and other things deny me enough. I will rot in hell before I use my precious free time to watch other men play sports when I could be playing them myself. And yes, I suck at this and will probably never be any good...but that is not the point...and that attitude is why you are now fat and get winded moving your new TV from your car into your living room. "

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So go train.

(and, thanks Julie! You are braver and tougher than I ever will be, and inspire me so much!)

Anywho, I felt it was important enough to make a quick post about it. Also, congrats to Jonas Schrodt. Recently he had his debut fight with ECF in Bloomington and won after the first round due to his opponent being injured.

Well, more videos coming soon! I promise! Just consider it "quality over quantity."