Author: Shawn

I am a practitioner of the martial arts and student of the Buddhist faith. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic since I was 4 years old and have been fighting the uphill battle it includes ever since. I enjoy fitness and health and looking for new ways to improve both, as well as examining the many questions of life. Although I have no formal medical training, I have amassed a wealth of knowledge regarding health, Diabetes, martial arts as well as Buddhism and philosophy. My goal is to share this information with the world, and perhaps provide some sarcastic humour along the way. Welcome!

Let the Bodies Hit The Floor, Let The Bodies Hit The Floor…

No, the title doesn’t refer to Drowning Pool’s song. It refers to a particular reality that most people don’t seem to acknowledge about fights in the real world; y’all goin’ to the ground. Unlike what’s seen in the movies, real fights don’t involve a long, drawn out exchange involving multiple landed hits by both parties while exchanging witty, macho banter. Unless the one who initiates the fight manages to land that first hit, a real fight will usually involve a good handful of missed swings and awkward trips, followed by one or both opponents grappling each other and going to the ground.

For the most part, most traditional instructors advise that a practitioner should focus on one style, only. Sensei always used to preach, “One Style, One Religion, One Love.” And for the most part, i can get on board with that. How can one work towards mastering any given style if one spends their time diluting their time with multiple styles, schools and combat types. Martial art is a subjective thing. One style that suits a particular practitioner may not suit another. This is why one should take time and be patient when choosing a school.

That being said, one also needs to recognize that one can’t truly learn or understand the martial arts without including certain aspects that aren’t included in all styles. For example, we can agree that karate is primarily a striking art. Before everyone jumps on my comments section, I said “primarily.” This means that certain combat styles will lack certain required tools to properly defend oneself in a fight. If your style is mainly offensive or striking, you may not be able to adequately defend yourself by blocking incoming attacks. If one practices nothing but blocks and never learns to throw a strike, one will always be on the defensive and won’t be able to bring the confrontation to a close.

So what happens when the striking and blocking ends and the bodies hit the ground? You ever have someone weighing hundreds of pounds on top of you? Before anyone lets their mind slip down into the gutter, it can be very difficult to throw an efficient strike when you’re rolling around on the ground. This is where learning a grappling art can be integral to proper self defence. Beyond integral. Necessary. I was lucky in that my Sensei also held a black belt in Judo and he incorporated throwing, grappling and pressure points as a standard along with the karate aspect (his school was called The New England Academy of Karate & Judo)

I’m reminded of a full contact match I had while going through basic training. Our instructors thought it would be a good idea to pit me against a Tae Kwon Do black belt. It was an incredible match and we both got our bells rung, but good. We faced a very specific obstacle; our styles weren’t compatible for a controlled fight. As long as he kept his distance, I couldn’t reach him with my small circles blocks and strikes. If I managed to get in close, his high-flying and spinny techniques were useless.

I’m being a bit of a dick in terms of that last comment, but the reality is that in an actual combat situation, that incompatibility would inevitably lead to those opponents going to the ground. The fact that I was in a controlled match is the only thing that prevented that, in my situation. But that’s why I highly recommend taking the time to learn at LEAST the basics of rudimentary grappling and ground work. It could make all the difference in a real life situation. ☯️

Letting Sleeping Ghosts Lie…

So, my October 13 celebration/grieving was a bust… My wife warned me that this would happen. Another testament to how one should always listen to one’s spouse. Typically, I would have a home office in which I could write, stream some shows and be alone with my thoughts. This usually allows me to reflect and think back on my past experiences and what has brought me here. This year, since our basement isn’t completed, I had nowhere to go besides our living room. And that seemed to fall short for what I’ve usually done in the past.

Once supper was served, I was able to coax my son Nathan with the promise of holding on to his device if he completed a couple of homework tasks on it first. He agreed I got him squared away in his room with water and snack. Check. The youngest, however… Our evenings are typically on the quieter side since Alexander is usually pretty calm when his older brother Nathan isn’t in the picture. But for some reason, either because there was a full moon I was aware of or some stars aligned against me, or perhaps we can simply go with my usual belief that life doesn’t care about one’s plan, he was a roiling Tasmanian Devil of energy and was destroying everything in sight.

By the time we managed to get him to actually go to bed, I was physically and emotionally exhausted (not from him) and just wanted to go to bed. Which I did. Like an old man. Then I slept for over 11 hours, leaving behind the last instance of celebrating the day I completed basic training and took to the field. I’d like to say it was a restful sleep, but I woke up the next morning feeling as though I had been struck by a freight train. This is a testament to the fact that one can potentially sleep TOO long.

I did get one silver lining on Wednesday, which came in the form of an old troop mate reaching out to me: Randy Tabada. Y’all may remember Tabada, if you read the post I wrote back in February of 2020. If you didn’t, you can read it here. Tabada was a member of my troop during basic training. Our bunks were across the aisle from one another and he was one of the few select people from our troop that I actually spent time with, outside of the training environment. When he came back to Regina in February of 2020 to take some courses at the academy, I had the opportunity to share a meal and fond memories with him.

It was wonderful to get his phone call and reconnect with him. We discussed a number of outstanding issues that we’ve both been facing and we agreed how it was a little sad that out of a troop of 32, neither of us really had contact with anyone besides each other. I recall making an effort to reach out to everybody prior to our 10-year anniversary with the intention of organizing a reunion. I sent out a feeler email to see who would be amenable to getting together. The negative response was almost unanimous, which was a little sad.

At the end of the day, I didn’t get to observe my special day the way I would have chosen. Such is life. Although my intention is to rediscover myself and find out who I am outside of my previous career, I knew there wouldn’t be some climactic revelation or fireworks involved. But given that I’m now a veteran, it would have been nice to reminisce in my own way, one last time. Especially since my intention is to prohibit Fireball (or most other forms of alcohol) from ever entering this house again. I’m a veteran. It feels weird to say. It’s a title I usually always associated with my grandfather, but one that I’ll carry with pride. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to step out into the world and discover who I am. Or rather, who I may become…☯️

Be In The Now…

It’s important in life to recognize that life exists only in the immediate moment. That makes it equally important to live in that moment. I found a meme online that got me thinking about all of this and it went a little something like this. Bear with me, as I’m translating indirectly from French…

“If you want to be sad, live in the past.”
“If you want to be worried or anxious, live in the future.”
“If you want to be in peace, live in the present.”

This is not mine and to be honest, it was a meme and I can’t source it. I’m sure I could research it and try to figure out where it came from, but unlike providing information on something Diabetes-related as I often do, I don’t believe it’s necessary for the message I’m trying to convey. And just to be clear, this doesn’t mean one shouldn’t be PREPARED or PLAN for things. It simply means that your thoughts and your essence shouldn’t exist outside fo the immediate moment.

This is where you are. This is where you exist. To allow yourself to live outside of that context brings suffering. And that’s the last thing you need. Take the time to appreciate where you are. Soak in the environment. Take on the scents and sounds of your life. And take note that if any of those aspects don’t make you happy, you have an inherent responsibility to do something about it. ☯️

Let It Go And Let There Be Light…

In 2009, I closed up shop on life as I knew it. I closed my karate dojo, quit my job and left my friends and family to pursue a life-long dream and come out to Saskatchewan to start a new career. Basic training was tough, but despite several different types of adversity I made it through with flying colours and started the journey I thought would last the rest of my life. Today is the anniversary of the start of that journey. For years, I’ve observed a tradition on this day that involves toasting to my brothers and sisters.

This toast would take the form of one shot of Fireball for every year of service I had accumulated. The first few years were reasonably okay and it was a nice way of recognizing my comrades and celebrating without being able to be with them. After all, we were posted all over the country, so doing anything specific is difficult. But right around the fifth year of celebrating this day as a personal holiday, it started to get a little bit tough. I don’t think I need to explain that having five shots of Fireball whiskey in a row makes for a bit of a rough night.

Despite that fact, every year I’ve stubbornly held out. All the way to ten years, where over the course of a few hours, I would celebrate by taking ten shots. Is anybody else’s liver hurting yet? Needless to say, the following year I needed to find a different means of celebrating. But this year, things are different. In April, I started a new job. For the first time in my life, I have a permanent home. My children were born here in Saskatchewan. My wife is from Saskatchewan. The memories and experiences I’ve gathered during a decade and a half of being out here far outweigh any of the difficulties I’ve faced in recent years.

So I’ve decided that this year is the last time. Time to move forward with life. Memories and experience are simply that and how can one be expected to move forward if one is constantly reminded of what was lost, right? It’s been difficult to ignore that the rough seas I’ve been navigating over the past three years were out of my control, caused by someone else and even without any measurable benefit to the party in question. Some people just like to watch the world burn. But if I don’t let go of my hate and start moving forward, all it will do is contributed to my own suffering, which if you haven’t been paying attention, the elimination of suffering is kind of my jam.

So here’s to my brothers and sisters. I hope you all stay safe out there and continue to fight the good fight. My fight is not over, it’ll simply be in a different arena. Time to find out who I am outside the uniform and pursue new dreams. Time to find some peace. ☯️

Some “Social” Commentary…

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about social media. You can read that post here, but the irony is that last Monday the world got a brief, if albeit very real taste of being without social media for a period of time. For me, it went unnoticed until my wife texted me and asked if my Facebook was working. I opened up my app and found that I was able to scroll through my feed without issue and it looked like folks had posted stuff, so I thought nothing of it. In fact, we were convinced it had something to do with our internet at home, or perhaps my wife’s devices. Turns out that the feed I was looking at was exactly the same as it had been hours earlier and hadn’t refreshed. I keep so few friends on Facebook that apparently I didn’t even notice.

Within a couple of hours, I began to see articles online about the outage and the impact it was having on people. It was entertaining to me, the one who was able to make his way through the entire day without a care whether he had social media or not. The fact that I was at work kind of helped, since I was focused on that as opposed to my phone. But the outage apparently affected several social media platforms besides Facebook. By the time I got home from work that evening, the outage had been rectified and things were back to normal.

When I took the time to reflect on it, I found it disheartening how so many people were “affected” because they suddenly couldn’t use these platforms. I felt that it further went to fortify my position that we, as a society have come to depend on social media and the internet far more than we should. It wasn’t until my voice of reason (my wife) pointed out that some people actually depend on social media platforms to run and advertise their businesses and an outage can be detrimental to those businesses. When viewed through that lens, I can get how having an outage of several hours would be detrimental.

Despite the love/hate relationship I occasionally have with it, for better or for worse, social media is here to stay. Hell, I don’t even make money off this blog, but I’d be upset if our platform went down for any period of time. So I get it. But I think it should serve as a bit of a wake-up call for some who were unable to get through their day without posting, viewing and using their social media platforms. It’s definitely a demonstration of the current mindset of society. Who am I to say whether it’s good or bad? ☯️

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers. Although one should reflect on it often, I hope everyone has something to be thankful for this year, despite the current state of the world. Be safe, be healthy and take the time to be with those you love. ☯️

Squid Games: A Review (includes spoilers)

I’m not one to jump on the bandwagon for anything (unless it’s required by law) as I typically find most fads and “popular” shit are usually overrated. That being said, some things tend to slip through the cracks on occasion and my wife and I sat through all the episodes of Netflix’s Squid Games in the last week. I’m going to provide my thoughts on the series and be warned, there will be significant spoilers herein. Read at your own risk…

I have to say, it contained a number of ups and downs and ultimately didn’t disappoint. To provide a bit of background, the show involves hundreds of people who are in financial strife and facing harsh collectors on their debts, participating as contestants in a contest of children’s games where the losers are killed. The show is based in South Korea but isn’t subtitled. There are only 9 episodes but Netflix shows it as “Season 1,” leading me to believe there may be more episodes in the future.

The series follows the movements of Gi-Hun, a down-on-his-luck Korean man who is heavily in debt and at risk of losing contact with his only child when his ex-wife is threatening to move to the United States with her new husband. Right around the point where Gi-Hun believes there may be no way out, he’s approached by a man on the subway who offers to play a child’s game in exchange for money. When they’ve finished playing, the stranger offers him a business card with a phone number to participate in more games for more money. The show is a bit slow-paced at the start, but once Gi-Hun calls the number and accepts, the real show begins.

Gi-Hun is rendered unconscious and wakes up to find himself in a room with several hundred other people. Masked individuals, armed with weapons come in and explain the rules of a child’s game they must participate in. The first game they play is “red light, green light.” When the people who are still moving after “red light” is called are killed, the horrific reality of the contestants’ situation becomes clear. Over the episodes that follow, the herd is significantly thinned as defeated opponents or losers are shot and killed, with a secretive side business of sending the bodies down to a sun basement to harvest the organs for the black market.

Alliances and partnerships are made, and quasi-friendships are developed. Not least of these include a previous friendship between Gi-Hun and his childhood friend, as well as a connection with an elderly man who appears to be slowly losing his coherence due to a tumour in his head. Emotions run high and heart strings are tugged as the final contestants are all killed, one after another, including the elderly man. The best friend kills himself when the games come down to him and Gi-Hun, crowning Gi-Hun the winner.

Gi-Hun leaves the games, now a wealthy man but burdened with the guilt of all the deaths that were forced upon his soul. this causes Gi-Hun to reject his fortune, which prompts the mastermind behind the games to reach out. It was a bit of a stunner to discover that the old man who had been killed by losing to Gi-Hun turned out to be the one behind the Squid Games. He plays one last cursory game with Gi-Hun, after which he dies in his bed, having succumbed to the tumour in his brain, apparently one of the few actual truths behind the man.

The season ends with Gi-Hun wearing a nice suit and walking through a subway terminal on his way to the airport to see his daughter in the US. He’s stopped short by seeing the same man from the first episode, playing the same game for money and providing a card to a random stranger. Gi-Hun confronts the stranger and takes the card and calls the number, on my to be addressed as “Player 456,” which was his number in the games. He’s told to get on the plane and go, fo this own good. It ends with Gi-Hun turning around and walking back into the airport terminal, which leads me to believe there’ll be another season.

All in all, it was what i would easily describe as a train wreck. Weird and gory, but difficult to peel your eyes away. Once we started watching, we made it through all nine episodes within a week. What’s more is that they’re roughly 1-hour episodes, so they can be a bit long to sit through. But the content keeps you engaged and it has plots and subplots, which makes it more than just a random show about contestants being killed for losing a game. I highly recommend it. ☯️

A Little More Than Fried Eggs…

I don’t know if anyone else remembers, and maybe I’m unnecessarily aging myself, the anti-drug commercials that used to air on television. If I had to make a guess, I’d say they came out in the mid-80’s. Basically, the message was showing a raw egg, still in it’s shell and saying “This is your brain…” The, they’d crack the egg and drop it into a hot pan, causing sizzling ands frying of the egg, followed by saying “This is your brain on drugs.” It was an effective means of passing on the message that drug use fries your brain. It worked well for the time and elicited a lot of school yard jokes as well, since memes weren’t a thing back then. Imagine that? We had to get our laughs verbally as opposed to with an electronic device. but I digress…

Some time later, they released another commercial portraying the same scenario, but they started it by saying, “Alright, let’s do this ONE more time…” thereby suggesting that perhaps the message hasn’t gotten through as effectively as it should have the first time. I often feel that this is the case with the information I share. And I don’t necessarily mean with this blog. After all, there’s no expectation on my part that the entire world will read my writing. But when it comes to explaining things about Diabetes, I often feel that I am providing the same information ONE more time.

Generally speaking, non-Diabetics rarely know much about Diabetes beyond the need to take insulin and perhaps that they should avoid sugared goods. Although there’s some truth to that, it isn’t entirely accurate and one of my greatest frustrations is when people throw Type-1 and Type-2 Diabetes into the same basket. Although both called Diabetes, they happen to be significantly different conditions with different methods of treatment. This is while acknowledging that there are other types and several sub-types of Diabetes (LADA, Gestational Diabetes, etc…) but for the purposes of today’s rant, I’ll be focusing on Type-1 and Type-2 as they are the more commonly known and consistent types. Let’s do this ONE more time…

Type-1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that usually shows its ugly face during early childhood but can also develop in adults. That’s why the old term for Type-1, “Juvenile Diabetes“ isn’t accurate. At least not anymore. Back in the 80’s when I was diagnosed, if you get Diabetes as an adult, it simply wasn’t believed to be Type-1. I’m rather grateful that medicine has evolved somewhat, even in the past twenty years.

Although there can be a number of factors behind WHY someone may develop Type-1 Diabetes, excess weight gain and eating poorly aren’t the cause. There have been links to a possible genetic component, but we definitely know that becoming overweight DOES NOT CAUSE TYPE-1! Diabetes develops when our body’s own immune system starts attacking and destroying the cells that produce insulin, known as islets. Once enough of these islet cells are destroyed, the body stops producing insulin and the need for the injections to control glucose levels kicks in. Contrary to popular opinion, the human body NEEDS glucose, even Diabetics, since it’s a source of energy. It’s the level of glucose present in the bloodstream that causes the issue.

Type-2 Diabetes is different in the sense that the body doesn’t use glucose and insulin efficiently. The body’s immune system aren’t attacking the islets, but in some cases the pancreas isn’t producing enough insulin or the body’s cells don’t respond well to the insulin the pancreas DOES produce. this is a condition known as insulin resistance. Now THIS is the type that has been linked to body weight, as being obese or failing to get regular exercise have been linked as contributing factors.

Type-2 Diabetes used to be called “adult-onset Diabetes,” in contrast to Type-1’s “Juvenile Diabetes.” But those are both misnomers now, since children have also been know to develop insulin resistance and Type-2. It can be treated with a variety of oral medications but may also require insulin, depending on the severity of the condition. Weight loss and exercise have also been proven to help in treating it. I’ve also heard of cases where people diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes have eventually progressed to Type-1.

Ultimately, the only aspects that these two conditions have in common are their name, the possible need for insulin injections and the fact that there’s no cure. For either. Although Type-2’s symptoms can be mitigated through proper diet and exercise, it can’t be cured. If you bought one of those books that’s claim that a certain diet or lifestyle change will cure your Diabetes, you’ve been duped.

Hopefully, this provides clarity on the difference in types. I made a big show with the introduction, but a reminder and an explanation of the different types of Diabetes is never a bad thing. There’s always someone new who may read a post, that may not have been around for the previous one. So, it’s all good. The Mayo Clinic’s website is also a fantastic repository of information, if anyone is interested in looking up the different subtypes of Diabetes. ☯️

Embracing My Inner Nerd…

I don’t know if the term “nerd” is still widely-used or not. I know that for a while, being a nerd was cool. It sure as hell wasn’t when i went through school. Regardless of the term’s current standing, I’m quite proud of my inherent ability to absorb and process information, and the fact that I was always a little more on the cerebral side than some of my peers. So please accept my humble apologies if referring to myself or others as a nerd offends anyone. That isn’t the way it’s intended, but this is the way of the new world; normal things will often offend. That’s all I’ll say about that. Moving on…

I got my first taste of superhero lore when I was barely five years old, when my father sat with me and we watched the original Superman movie that was released in 1978. Ironically, only three months after I was born. But we didn’t get to watch it until it was released on video cassette (the predecessor to DVD’s, for you young’uns). I remember being fascinated by what I was seeing; a man who could fly, shoot beams from his eyes and couldn’t be physically harmed…. Superman has set the standard against which most superheroes are held.

I spent my youth collecting comic books, reading traditional books and delving deeply into the superhero genre. I was doing all of this through the years when Thanos was the antagonist in a comic line entitled “The Infinity Gauntlet,” which was followed by two sequels, “The Infinity War” and “The Infinity Crusade.” What we’ve seen in the MCU is based on The Infinity Gauntlet, even if they called it Infinity War. Despite exploring all these different stories and superheroes, Superman has always remained my favourite and despite differing reviews, I have loved ALL of the movies and series.

About a month ago, I decided to celebrate my birthday by walking into the value mall down the road and perusing a used book store. I sold off the remainder of my comic book collection a few years ago when i thought we might be moving and needed some extra cash so I was delighted when I came across a batch of graphic novels just sitting there in pristine condition. I decided that a fine gift to myself would be to allow the purchase of a few graphic novels to be read for leisure. I spend so much time reading and studying things, sometimes it’s nice to let your head cool and simply read something for fun.

This is where I got my hands on this little gem. For those of you who aren’t versed in comic lore (and I can admit that I no longer am), DC comics decided to refresh itself in 2011 and scrapped all its current existing title for their top characters and revamping them based on the outcome of a key storyline. They called it the New 52 and it saw a number of well-known characters be re-invented and have an altered appearance, altered power set and in some cases, slightly different origin story. I haven’t read a great deal of them, but I remember mixed reviews.

Most companies occasionally feel that change is good, especially if things have gotten stagnant or boring. But most of population don’t like someone messing with an old classic, like Superman. Despite that line of thinking, I have to say that I’m greatly enjoying this graphic novel. Without providing any spoilers, this storyline provide a look at a raw, rougher Superman who is at odds with the law and the status quo. Most importantly, he isn’t all-powerful and completely immune, which makes him more relatable as a hero to normal people, I think. If you haven’t been reading these, I highly recommend it as your next option. For fun, if nothing else.

I usually use my lunch hours at work to read. This is a good way to let my head cool, change gears and refresh myself before dealing with the afternoon. I usually bring a novel of some sort, science fiction or fantasy. I’m still reading the Wheel of Time. But this time around, it was good to revisit a familiar hero in a somewhat familiar environment and think back fondly to those warm, comfortable afternoons on the couch, watching Christopher Reeve show us that a man can fly. ☯️

Just A Little Something…

Not all of my posts need to be ridiculously long. No, they don’t. NO, THEY DON’T!!! No, YOU shut up! I may be a bit tired… Which is premised by the fact my post is going up at 6:30 pm instead of 6:30 am. Sometimes, the day gets away on me. We do what we can. Enjoy the short bit of inspiration. ☯️