I get  a lot of comments from the uninitiated questioning Capoeira's efficiency as a martial art especialy the Angola lineage that I have been a student of. When one watches a Roda for the first time and see's people rolling around in slow motion close to the ground or "dancing: with each to the tune of the orchestra it can be difficult to judge just what is the purpose of this beyond having a good time? Obviously when compared  to a  Muay Thai fight  wherein the contact is direct and the goal is to dominate the opponent and hopefully render him hors de combat..cause and effect wherein participants are attempting to achieve a very clear objective..In a capoeira roda there is no such obvious objective and the outcome of any game can be ambiguous at best. there is so much variety in style of play and shall we say objectives that anything is possible.

 Boxers go into a match with certain expectations, having studied their opponent and having adjusted their training and strategy accordingly..a Capoeirista has to do all his "research" only after the game has already begun or if he is smart while in the bateria or waiting to play watching how others are playing. games generaly start slow for this reason, you don't know what their skill level is or how they like to play..so time is taken to feel the person out a little and start studying tendencies and find openings in their defence..as the game continues and the players become more comfortable then naturaly play can get faster and more dangerous (also starting slow allows the body to warm up to the task at hand). This type of training is a great way to learn to read peoples intentions in and out of the Roda which is very handy for staying out of harms way.

 Another lesson one learns in the Roda is to use all of your senses, the Music controls the game therefore you listen to the Mestre at the Gunga, you watch the other player at all times..peripheral vision is highly important in that the sideways glance can be used as a weapon of distraction and to also disguise your own intentions ,a proffered handshake or a smile can be a trap..you learn not to trust appearances very quickly after trying to shake someones hand and getting head butted for it :)..all these things combine to highten your awareness at all times and to see what other people don't see and becoming comfortable with being facile and thinking tacticaly at all times..which is really super for avoiding trouble out in the real world..so maybe its not the most efficient self defence as far as devastating techniques go in direct response to attack but it sure helps you avoid being in a position to be attacked.  think of it more as a type of urban survival training

 I am going to complain about complaining :o

  for several reasons i'm declaring a moritorium on complaining , here are some.

1. doesn't actualy fix anything

2. wastes enormous amounts of time and energy that could be better spent resolving or fixing the issue(s)

3. makes me feel like an enormous baby.

4. is contagious (like yawning)

5. can lead to a repeating cycle of  negativity

from now on there are problems and solutions and no useless exposition in between!

  A neotinic cave salamander :)

  I made this little beastie from scratch  , you can look at enlarged microscopic photos of Algae through a magnifier........................................... I will be adding more copper pipes just for fun.

 this is our new 40 inch display for our Salamander habitat video feed. it's a monster!

Classrooms had not been painted in over 7 years..we went with a wave motif this time around.

 This is a short crawl through cave accompanied by a mural that represents local geography and was rendered with a large amount of cutesy whimsy by two teenage artists..

The trees framing the mural were cut from plywood by yours truly and the other staff person who works here

 the cave itself is a soft sculpture piece wherein the three layers of strata that comprise a limestone aquifer are  in full effect.. weeeeee

 a close up of the tree detail

 I went to a Roda De Capoeira , I have not been to one since last year so naturaly I was a tad nervous. But It was a lot of fun and we had several groups represented and everyone played nice..even the Regional cats didn't spaz out..well except for one fellow who almost launched himself into the orchestra,since we had our backs right up against the wall it could have been ugly :).  Saw some old friends and shook some of the rust out of my game without going crazy..ok so I did managed to tag my friend Julie in the forehead but it wasn't a hard kick so no majar damage.

 I continue to suck at singing, mostly because I suck even more singing in public which is of course required if you play Capoeira..oh well. If I could only relax!