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Jaybird

Jaybird is Birdmojo on Xbox Live and Jaybirdmojo on Playstation's network. He's been playing consoles since the Atari 2600 and it was Zork that taught him how to touch-type. If you've got a song for Wednesday, a commercial for Saturday, a recommendation for Tuesday, an essay for Monday, or, heck, just a handful a questions, fire off an email to AskJaybird-at-gmail.com

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28 Responses

  1. Maribou says:

    Finished watching Bad Moms and Bad Moms Christmas …. no, just kidding.

    Finished watching Legends, it’s really quite good although as far as I can tell the DVD of season 2 (which is far more intense) isn’t out anywhere, and it just left Netflix, so I’m not sure how to recommend watching it… I ended up paying for the last 3 eps on Amazon to binge-watch out the season.

    Catching up on all my CW shows, slowly, almost at the point where I can watch the multi-part Crisis on Earth-X. (The non-superhero shows I’m way more behind on.)

    Finished reading a quite lovely collection of short-stories-inspired-by-various-classics by New Zealander Sue Orr, Under the Overcoat. The collection also includes the entire text of Gogol’s The Overcoat, which I love less than The Nose, but which is still always worth rereading. Plus I do love me some New Zealand settings, regardless of the (here impeccable) writing quality.

    Picture book of the week: John Ronald’s Dragons by Caroline McAlister. Biography of Tolkien for kids, with beautiful beautiful, lightly drawn, close to being painted sketches, illustrations (and yes, the dragons are particularly good).Report

  2. aaron david says:

    I never understood the whole Die Hard Xmas thing. I saw the first two in the theatre*, but it never dawned on me that they were Xmas, other than as a vehicle. But I am in my 40’s so what do I know…

    Anyhoo, I am reading the new Robert Irving phantasmagoria, Wonders Will Never Cease. Not sure so far, but this is the Orientalist who wrote The Arabian Nightmare, so I think I am in good hands.

    *Way back in the day, when groups of teenage boys traveled in mass to the cineplex in the town 15 miles south (AG) and boy that was a long time ago.Report

  3. Damon says:

    Die Hard is only a xmas movie in the sense that it’s been traditionally watched during that time.

    Frankly I’d rather watch that than that stupid movie “it’s a wonderful life”.Report

  4. Damon says:

    I spend Sat and Sun:

    Sat
    Jujitsu
    Kick fit

    Sun
    Kickfit
    Jujissu
    Drill and roll.

    When I asked my instructor when “it stopped hurting”, he responded, “it never does”. Good to know. At least there’s hot moms in yoga pants in kick fit. Allow me to list my traumas 🙂

    Right hand fingers torked up from pulling guis.
    Left and right elbows and triceps sore from rolling
    Strained right shoulder muscle pulled from an opponent misapplying a triangle on me
    Strained lower abs (thought it might have been a hernia)
    Bloodied nose
    Chipped teeth from having my jaw pressed by an opponents bodyweight.
    Assorted bruises ranging in size from quarter to softball size.
    Most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done. I love it and hate it.Report

    • Kazzy in reply to Damon says:

      Related: What is the practical difference between karate, TKD, jujitsu, etc? Looking to sign Mayo up, specifically to focus on self-control, body regulation, etc.Report

      • Morat20 in reply to Kazzy says:

        That’s hard to explain in less than several paragraphs, but mostly “the philosophy of how and where you’re fighting”. Karate is such a catch-all term it might mean anything. Jujitsu, on the other hand (especially Brazillian) emphasizes take-downs and grappling. Aikido focuses on joint manipulation. TKD is known for a heavy emphasis on kicks.

        I’m not sure Mayo’s age, but….you want to avoid joint locks for kids. I mean as in “nothing with a focus on joint locks until 18 or older”. So I’d really avoid something like Aikido unless they have a specific, under-18 syllabus. And that probably means avoiding a lot of the jujitsu styles (especially those that have grown up with the popularity of UFC) because ground fighting involves a lot of joint locks once they’re on the ground.

        There’s also the question of how much (if any) sparring you want Mayo involved in, as opposed to katas.

        My two cents? Look at judo first (judo and jujitsu are…kinda the same thing, kinda not). It generally emphasizes learning to fall, focuses on throws and falls (but less grappling than most jujitsu classes), tends to be well organized (it’s an Olympic sport after all), the sparring is more constrained (less hitting, more tossing).

        But sit in on a few classes and see what the vibe is between kids. You want friendly, happy kids, that are enjoying themselves.Report

        • Maribou in reply to Morat20 says:

          @kazzy I agree with Morat20. #1 rule is how are the kids enjoying it? (#2 rule is, how do the adults cope when a kid has a meltdown.)

          Past that, I’d say judo if you want more sport, TKD if you want something more parallel to church in terms of having a lot of context and structure (only with less Jesus, more confucianism and kicking). But there are probably regional differences.Report

        • Damon in reply to Morat20 says:

          @kazzy @morat20

          Yeah, Kaz, what Morat said. I’m doing Brazilian Jujitsu, and it’s the “street” version, i.e. a non competition, self defense form. My instructor combines a “bully safe” and kid version of jujitsu for the younglings. I always equated jujitsu with “martial arts wrestling” if that helps. And to further what Morat said about locks, our instructor was very clear about what submissions/locks we, as white belts, were allowed to do, going so far as to say that if his rules were violated, you’re out….permanently. There’s just no room for margin when you can blow a guy’s ACL.

          That all being said, every man and women in the class is helpful, considerate, supportive, and injuries are few. “Be careful and help each other out” is the operative word.Report

          • Kazzy in reply to Damon says:

            @morat20 @damon @maribou

            This is super helpful. Thank you.

            To elaborate a bit more on what I’m looking for…

            Mayo is 4.5 (turning 5 in April). He is a ridiculous kinesthetic learner. Show him… or simply allow him to see… someone doing something physical (especially gross motor movements) and he’ll emulate it. Kid swings the bat like Ted Williams, tackles like Ray Lewis, and dunks like a young Shaq… all with zero explicit instruction. He simply watches sports and his body knows what to do.

            He also has some sensory integration/processing stuff. He can be sensory/stimulation seeking… and doesn’t always pursue these in the safest or most pro-social way. This is related to executive functioning, specifically his ability to self-regulate his body and urges.

            Put these together and he can turn into a wrecking ball… wherein his body is needing input and he achieves this by going all Lawrence Taylor on unsuspecting classmates. Thankfully, he’s in the 1% for size so he mostly bounces off the other kids.

            He’s a kind kid… he isn’t “violent” or “aggressive.” He tackles, grabs, and the like because it is fun for him and feels good for him and it is what his body is telling him to do and he lacks the skills to meet that need in other ways.

            So, I’m thinking of one of these martial arts because the see-and-do, use-your-body-to-learn nature of it will speak to him AND because I’ve seen very talented instructors work in all sorts of other things. So I care less about whether he learns to kick versus grapple, and more that he is in an environment that will teach/support/demand the development of self-control, self-regulation, and the like. If he spends 45 minutes waling on a heavy bag, that will be good for him in the moment but of little use big picture. If instead the class balances healthy outlets for what his body needs with the development of strategies for seeking that out in a safer manner… THAT is what I’m looking for. It’s why I’m not just looking at sports or indoor bounce centers or that stuff. Gymnastics is another consideration… he did well in a recent ballet class but it may be a little to sedentary for his needs (maybe jazz or hip hop? How does dance work?!)

            This may be more specific to the instructor/environment but I wasn’t sure if any style was more focused on “FINISH HIM!!!” and another on “Wax on, wax off.” I remember the instructor at my school in DC was masterful at making the class like 75% self-improvement and 25%-kick improvement but feel entirely like the latter. I wish I could bring him north…

            The grappling does seem like it might be better from a purely physical standpoint, so I’ll start there. Any other insights you might have would be great. Thanks!!!Report

            • Maribou in reply to Kazzy says:

              @kazzy Just to put in a word for TKD – I’ve seen kids in 3 different set-ups, and it definitely has the 75 percent self-improvement, 25 percent skill-improvement, but feels like the latter, thing going on for said kids.

              For ME, it seems too stuffy and boy-scout-esque, but the kids all seem to eat that up with a spoon alongside their kicking, punching, and grappling. All super-kind kids, but, you know, kids. They started out pretty rambunctious and not super-good at respecting boundaries :D… one of ’em was actually also making the shift from a terrible living situation to a really healthy and loving one. As an outsider, it’s been amazing to watch their self-regulation and focus and … general courtesy and thoughtfulness advance. They can’t advance belts without meeting whatever social curriculum their instructors have laid out for ’em, which gives them some pretty solid incentive to do/learn those things. It felt weird and artificial at first (again, as an outsider) to see them being super-polite or whatever as a belt step, but it has some kind of fake-it-till-you-make-it effect where it eventually becomes more integrated and less artificial.

              I hesitate only b/c I do think the instructors are more important than the general school…. but 2 of these schools are here in town and the 3rd is in new york, they all have quite different approaches, and yet the underlying expectations are the same. And all the instructors are super kind, patient, and with high standards for the kids. They also involve the most skilled teenagers in participating in instruction for the youngers (not w/out adults around of course), which my Montessori-loving heart really appreciates.

              (As an aside that YOU probably don’t need, I do think it’s important to pay *attention* to what the kids are learning and discuss it with ’em – not in the oh-no-brainwash sense…. but like, one of the kids we know that we see SEVERAL TIMES a week – we’re basically aunt and uncle – got it into his head at one point that we were the wrong safety category of adult, and stopped talking to us, climbing on us, wanting to show us all his new stuff, etc. Took his mom a couple weeks to figure out what was going on. Once she explained he was back to his usual chirpy self though :D.)Report

              • Kazzy in reply to Maribou says:

                SUPER helpful, @maribou ! Thanks!

                To your point about “fake it till you make it”… I’m increasingly buying into an idea I’ve heard described as “Habit comes before virtue.”

                It is unlikely that we decide tomorrow is the day we become an X sort of person and then wake up tomorrow and suddenly are an X sort of person (for so many values of X). Instead, we force ourselves to do the things that X sort of people do, begrudgingly at first, but over time… they just become the things WE do and then suddenly we wake up and realize we are an X sort of person.

                As I’ve thought about it, I realized that much of education is oriented around this idea even if it isn’t explicitly said as such.

                I don’t think it works for all things… but it does seem to make a lot of sense to me.Report

            • Morat20 in reply to Kazzy says:

              I think, mostly, you’re looking for a style of teaching rather than a style of martial arts. Any under-6 martial arts should be, mostly, tumbling (learning to fall) and very friendly supervised rough-housing, often in the form of games.

              So just avoid the joint manipulation schools (not that Mayo would learn them that young). You might also look into gymnastics or any other tumbling program, if the martial arts schools aren’t giving you the type of teaching that works.

              In terms of sheer usefulness for life, “learning to fall”. Any school teaching that to children is going to be good for letting them burn energy and learn how to manipulate their body. (And gymnastics teach that). It’s a good skill to have, especially if trained into reflex, and it’s an awful lot of fun for kids to learn (adults, on the other hand, are less likely to cheerfully throw themselves at the ground).

              So honestly, if you like the vibe and they teach falls or tumbling, and don’t do joint manipulation, go for it. Put the vibe topmost — that they’re teaching and interacting in the environment you think works best for Mayo.Report

              • Kazzy in reply to Morat20 says:

                Great, @morat20 . Thanks! I’ll focus on climate, culture, and teaching philosophy over the specifics of the “curriculum”.

                Also, Mayo doesn’t feel pain… this should be interesting!Report

    • Morat20 in reply to Damon says:

      Chipped teeth from having my jaw pressed by an opponents bodyweight.

      No mouth guard? (You can still get injured with one, but it takes more….)

      My two cents is — whatever safety gear they suggest, even if it’s “optional” — get and use. Especially if you’re throwing yourself in 100%.Report

      • Damon in reply to Morat20 says:

        I’ve talked with people about a mouth guard. I’ve been told that I’d have to breathe mainly out of my nose, and well, I got problems there, so I’m more of a mouth breather. As a result, I’ve delayed getting one. I do, however, wear knee pads and wrist braces.

        The said part is I’ve been “injured” not during free rolling (like competition) but during training to do the moves. Beware fat guys with limited flexibility 🙂 Anyway, the chipping was minor. As he was pushing down on me, my lower jaw came up with the lower teeth just catching the back of my upper teeth. Least I didn’t break my nose like a guy in class a few months ago 🙂Report

        • Morat20 in reply to Damon says:

          I’vve talked with people about a mouth guard. I’ve been told that I’d have to breathe mainly out of my nose, and well, I got problems there, so I’m more of a mouth breather.

          Get the kind with the hole in the middle for air. I tend towards mouth breathing myself, especially when really exercising, and they work just fine. (Admittedly, I was in better shape back then…)

          Seriously, protect your teeth and tongue. A broken tooth is neither fun nor cheap to repair, and god help you if you bite your tongue.Report

  5. Saul Degraw says:

    I’ve been watching the Great British Bake Off with my girlfriend on Netflix. It is quite good.Report

    • Morat20 in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      My wife loves it. I like how…nicely competitive it is. They help each other! The prize is a cake stand. They’re nice to each other! It’s competitive, but in a very pleasant “We all really love baking, isn’t it great to get to do this together!” vibe.Report

  6. Barry says:

    In my opinion, ‘Bad Moms’ Christmas’ was a good movie.

    SPOILERS

    SPOILERS

    It deals with mothers having to deal with the pressure to be Perfect Moms. In this case, they are under the normal Christmas pressure, and *their* moms come to visit.Report