The Red Cross along with seven local bars are encouraging designated drivers to drink up this New Year's Eve. In an effort to promote sober driving among revelers in central Illinois...participating bars and restaurants will provide nonalcoholic beverages free to designated drivers...
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
2008: A Look Back (MMA)
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2008 was a big year for Metamora Martial Arts.
For nearly a year we’d been planning on an open tournament, and on April 5, 2008, we did just that. Eight schools, 70+ divisions, 100+ competitors. Lucky for me, I was put in charge of a ring for the first time, and I think I did a good job. Not great, but for first-time, on-the-job training, I don’t think I did too bad. Here’s to another awesome tournament on April 4, 2009!
I got to train a few different ways this summer, courtesy of Mr. Hawkey. Black belts did some private training at his home in Sparland, in a secluded woodsy area. And, as if that wasn’t enough, he also taught whoever was interested the beginnings of the sai. It’s my goal to get certified in the sai, but my schedule last semester and apparently the forthcoming one are going to prevent that from happening because I’m not available to see him for certification.
It was also over the summer that we realized we’d won some awards from Black Belt Magazine. Metamora Martial Arts was named Best Children’s Program and Best Humanitarian Act (for our Relay For Life break-a-thon). For a program that’s only been around just shy of 7 years, I think that’s an awesome accomplishment. Go big or go home.
The Missouri trip was somewhat bittersweet. The trip was pretty fun – mostly chillin with Adam and a few others. The busride was especially fun, for me, because we were jammin tuneskis from the iPod, and I was leading the charge singing for the group. I think everybody seemed to enjoy it, and I was completely hoarse the next day and didn’t really want to talk. However, one little incident kind of blew up – winding up in my suspension from MTHS for three months and severely threatening my future as the chief instructor at MGS. The details are stupid, but suffice it to say that everybody needs to stick to their own business and not worry about bringing others down with them.
After that little incident, my spot as the chief instructor at MGS was secure. Mr. Chianakas has finally realized his dream of having three black belt instructors lead his grade schools. Plus, Justin and Adam are also in charge of their own schools, and I think the fact that us three are playing such a big part in this now nationally recognized program is awesome. Being an instructor at MGS since the very first night we opened there, this whole thing is pretty cool.
We also got to prove that we do serve the community through a blood drive we hosted in August. Since I couldn’t give blood because of the tat I got in January, I was still able to help out and Susan said we had a great turnout. From the sounds of things, it sound like we’ll still be able to do it next August.
So if we did all this in 2008, it looks like we have some damn big shoes to fill in 2009.
For nearly a year we’d been planning on an open tournament, and on April 5, 2008, we did just that. Eight schools, 70+ divisions, 100+ competitors. Lucky for me, I was put in charge of a ring for the first time, and I think I did a good job. Not great, but for first-time, on-the-job training, I don’t think I did too bad. Here’s to another awesome tournament on April 4, 2009!
I got to train a few different ways this summer, courtesy of Mr. Hawkey. Black belts did some private training at his home in Sparland, in a secluded woodsy area. And, as if that wasn’t enough, he also taught whoever was interested the beginnings of the sai. It’s my goal to get certified in the sai, but my schedule last semester and apparently the forthcoming one are going to prevent that from happening because I’m not available to see him for certification.
It was also over the summer that we realized we’d won some awards from Black Belt Magazine. Metamora Martial Arts was named Best Children’s Program and Best Humanitarian Act (for our Relay For Life break-a-thon). For a program that’s only been around just shy of 7 years, I think that’s an awesome accomplishment. Go big or go home.
The Missouri trip was somewhat bittersweet. The trip was pretty fun – mostly chillin with Adam and a few others. The busride was especially fun, for me, because we were jammin tuneskis from the iPod, and I was leading the charge singing for the group. I think everybody seemed to enjoy it, and I was completely hoarse the next day and didn’t really want to talk. However, one little incident kind of blew up – winding up in my suspension from MTHS for three months and severely threatening my future as the chief instructor at MGS. The details are stupid, but suffice it to say that everybody needs to stick to their own business and not worry about bringing others down with them.
After that little incident, my spot as the chief instructor at MGS was secure. Mr. Chianakas has finally realized his dream of having three black belt instructors lead his grade schools. Plus, Justin and Adam are also in charge of their own schools, and I think the fact that us three are playing such a big part in this now nationally recognized program is awesome. Being an instructor at MGS since the very first night we opened there, this whole thing is pretty cool.
We also got to prove that we do serve the community through a blood drive we hosted in August. Since I couldn’t give blood because of the tat I got in January, I was still able to help out and Susan said we had a great turnout. From the sounds of things, it sound like we’ll still be able to do it next August.
So if we did all this in 2008, it looks like we have some damn big shoes to fill in 2009.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
2008: A Look Back (Total Nonstop Action)
I’ve blogged several times about my solo venture to Bound for Glory in October, so I’ll just leave it at that. Since then, the storylines have helped back up the Nash turn on Joe and Sting’s subsequent win, but I still disagree with taking Joe out of the title picture and having a different member of the Front Line try to take Sting’s title. But, whatever.
http://www.adambockler.com/see/raster/boundforglory08/index.html
TNA held their first house show in Bloomington in June. I don’t remember everything blow by blow, but I got to spend a night with Blake, which was fun, and see wrestling quite honestly like I’d never seen it before. The six-sided ring, and a host of talent that I’ve never seen in person before – Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Curry Man / Christopher Daniels, Shark Boy, etc. Some people I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade, like Kip James (formerly Badass Billy Gunn). Anyway, the show was awesome. We failed to score backstage passes like suckers, but oh well.
Robert Roode was about 5 feet away from me watching the James Storm match, I think. I don’t know if they’d formed their team by then, but maybe he was scouting and studying what Storm does in the ring a little better to get a good feel. I didn’t want to talk to him for fear of creating a diversion from the action happening in the ring. Velvet Sky was a little farther back.
http://www.adambockler.com/see/raster/tna_6-20-08/index.htm
http://www.adambockler.com/see/raster/boundforglory08/index.html
TNA held their first house show in Bloomington in June. I don’t remember everything blow by blow, but I got to spend a night with Blake, which was fun, and see wrestling quite honestly like I’d never seen it before. The six-sided ring, and a host of talent that I’ve never seen in person before – Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Curry Man / Christopher Daniels, Shark Boy, etc. Some people I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade, like Kip James (formerly Badass Billy Gunn). Anyway, the show was awesome. We failed to score backstage passes like suckers, but oh well.
Robert Roode was about 5 feet away from me watching the James Storm match, I think. I don’t know if they’d formed their team by then, but maybe he was scouting and studying what Storm does in the ring a little better to get a good feel. I didn’t want to talk to him for fear of creating a diversion from the action happening in the ring. Velvet Sky was a little farther back.
http://www.adambockler.com/see/raster/tna_6-20-08/index.htm
Friday, December 12, 2008
2008: A Look Back (Bob vs. Adam)
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Harvester of Sorrow vs. Stone Cold Steve Adam (c) - Metamora Backyard Wrestling Championship
Bob “Hit and Run” Dixon and I have found throughout the course of our friendship that both of us were big wrestling fans during the industry’s boom periods of the late 90s. I can remember sitting with him and Ryan and Wes in graphic arts in high school and talking about all that stuff, with the only name I can vividly remember being Vader, of all people.
Anyway, sometime over the spring or summer, we were in the driveway and started hitting each other with different shots and wrestling holds and whatever. Not too long afterwards, we had a real garbage match in the dark in the backyard. But we decided that night that we wanted to put on a wrestling match.
We got together one night after a night of wingz at Webb’s in Washburn, but on the way back ended up canceling the show because of storms. So we waited and built the suspense for a few more weeks.
There was absolutely no rehearsal for this match. I’d made a Facebook event for it and thought 10 of our friends showed up. Well, the best advertising is by word of mouth. Right before our entrance music hit, there had to be at least 30 people crowded around in my backyard. Honestly I felt bad for everybody that showed up looking for something good. But it was really entertainment value and not a true scientific chain wrestling type of match, so whatever.
I had to watch the match after I got done writing that last paragraph. Honestly, in wrestling terms, it was pretty awful, but it was a damn entertaining match and I hope we can do at least one match this coming summer.
http://www.adambockler.com/see/video/wrestlingmatch61808.html
Bob “Hit and Run” Dixon and I have found throughout the course of our friendship that both of us were big wrestling fans during the industry’s boom periods of the late 90s. I can remember sitting with him and Ryan and Wes in graphic arts in high school and talking about all that stuff, with the only name I can vividly remember being Vader, of all people.
Anyway, sometime over the spring or summer, we were in the driveway and started hitting each other with different shots and wrestling holds and whatever. Not too long afterwards, we had a real garbage match in the dark in the backyard. But we decided that night that we wanted to put on a wrestling match.
We got together one night after a night of wingz at Webb’s in Washburn, but on the way back ended up canceling the show because of storms. So we waited and built the suspense for a few more weeks.
There was absolutely no rehearsal for this match. I’d made a Facebook event for it and thought 10 of our friends showed up. Well, the best advertising is by word of mouth. Right before our entrance music hit, there had to be at least 30 people crowded around in my backyard. Honestly I felt bad for everybody that showed up looking for something good. But it was really entertainment value and not a true scientific chain wrestling type of match, so whatever.
I had to watch the match after I got done writing that last paragraph. Honestly, in wrestling terms, it was pretty awful, but it was a damn entertaining match and I hope we can do at least one match this coming summer.
http://www.adambockler.com/see/video/wrestlingmatch61808.html
Thursday, December 11, 2008
2008: A Look Back (1st Quarter)
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I was going to do this in individual segments, but didn't want to waste space with separate blogs that didn't really need any division. So here is roughly a recap of the first quarter of the year.
Swingram’s NYE Bash
So I guess there is really no way to talk about the year 2008 unless we take a look back at the New Year’s Eve party that was…Swingram’s New Year’s Eve Bash 2K7.
Sam had informed us of his parents being gone for the weekend in Iowa, I believe. Naturally this meant he was going to host a party. A party full of anything but dead pigeons.
Those that were there could probably tell the stories better than I could, which means they’re lying or their inebriated points of view are just better.
Anyway, some highlights of that party for me…
• Sarah with some kind of cocktail or something (maybe just straight-up vodka) in her hands when I arrived. This was also the most sober I think I saw her that night.
• Seeing some friends that I don’t get to see much, like Matt Winkler, Ben Seckler, and Kyle Cunningham to name a few.
• Beau awkwardly benching all night on Sam’s weight bench. On a later trip to the mall we talked about this, and Beau asked something to the effect of, “So that’s what I was doing? I wondered why my body hurt the next day.”
• Chloe Daniels. Moving on…
• Searching for the Dirty Dave / Delayna makeout sesh I was sure was happening.
• Me and Jon riding Sam’s scooter down the road. It was so cold, and that thing was such a piece of crap, but I was laughing really hard the entire time while I was on it because of the experience.
• The weird kids from East Peoria that kept moving to different parts of the house in an effort to find whatever hogwash MTV was airing.
• Myself giving a toast to the late Fat Dan Nauman at midnight.
• Somebody (Swingram himself?) saying “First to find the champagne bottle gets the whole thing!!!” and Jon jumps off the top couple stairs, hits a wall, and literally tumbles down the stairs until he hit the floor. Assuming I’d need to drive him to the hospital, I rushed downstairs to see if he was okay. I don’t remember what exactly Jon said, but I’m guessing it was a burp followed by a few laughs.
• Carrying Sarah out in the snow on my shoulders to hand her over to her parents.
The party was hilarious and it was a great way to cap off a year in which we’d graduated from high school and most of us went to college. It also set the bar in terms of rage for the year ahead.
The Okinawan Blade
Let’s take a break from the ridiculousness of life. I had been thinking about getting a tattoo for close to a year. I’d wanted to get it soon after getting out of high school but timing didn’t work out. So I waited until January and got what I’ve used as the symbol of our program ever since I started the website.
I like it because it represents everything I’ve been involved with in the martial arts. From being a white belt to creating our website, earning a shodan, leading demos and seminars, and the lifelong relationships I’ve made in just over five years, I decided before getting inked that no matter how old I am, I’ll look at this blade with pride that I was able to do something special. I sat here for a bit thinking about putting it into words but, every time I look at that beast I’ve got a different story to tell.
I wear it with pride.
Adam Bockler – American Gladiator
It’s no secret I view myself as sitting on the top of the world, more often than not. I figured I was doing well in school, was in the best shape of my life (at that point), and wanted to try something different. So I heard American Gladiators was filming a new season and decided, “what the hell?” I filled out a giant application, and filmed some spots of me working out solo and throwing Tony and Mark around in the basement.
My favorite filming session came from doing an impression of one of my heroes, Hulk Hogan, host of the show. I dressed up in full Hogan garb and in front of about 20 people in Sarah’s basement, we filmed a pretty kickass promo. I felt bad for some of the dudes there, because they were some of Sarah’s friends most of the rest of us hadn’t ever met before. But the reaction they gave me was good, so that’s awesome.
Monster Jam
Another year of monster trucks, another year of hilarity. Thankfully I didn’t get a plug stuck in my ear this year, but Monster Jam was still awesome. I believe the gang was me, Pepper Water, Bob, Jon & Laura, and maybe Dirty Dave. Justin and Emily were supposed to come, but apparently couldn’t find their tickets, and ended up not coming back even after I spent forever at the box office trying to get them back into the show.
But whatever man, I still got to enjoy monster trucks, so all is good.
Swingram’s NYE Bash
So I guess there is really no way to talk about the year 2008 unless we take a look back at the New Year’s Eve party that was…Swingram’s New Year’s Eve Bash 2K7.
Sam had informed us of his parents being gone for the weekend in Iowa, I believe. Naturally this meant he was going to host a party. A party full of anything but dead pigeons.
Those that were there could probably tell the stories better than I could, which means they’re lying or their inebriated points of view are just better.
Anyway, some highlights of that party for me…
• Sarah with some kind of cocktail or something (maybe just straight-up vodka) in her hands when I arrived. This was also the most sober I think I saw her that night.
• Seeing some friends that I don’t get to see much, like Matt Winkler, Ben Seckler, and Kyle Cunningham to name a few.
• Beau awkwardly benching all night on Sam’s weight bench. On a later trip to the mall we talked about this, and Beau asked something to the effect of, “So that’s what I was doing? I wondered why my body hurt the next day.”
• Chloe Daniels. Moving on…
• Searching for the Dirty Dave / Delayna makeout sesh I was sure was happening.
• Me and Jon riding Sam’s scooter down the road. It was so cold, and that thing was such a piece of crap, but I was laughing really hard the entire time while I was on it because of the experience.
• The weird kids from East Peoria that kept moving to different parts of the house in an effort to find whatever hogwash MTV was airing.
• Myself giving a toast to the late Fat Dan Nauman at midnight.
• Somebody (Swingram himself?) saying “First to find the champagne bottle gets the whole thing!!!” and Jon jumps off the top couple stairs, hits a wall, and literally tumbles down the stairs until he hit the floor. Assuming I’d need to drive him to the hospital, I rushed downstairs to see if he was okay. I don’t remember what exactly Jon said, but I’m guessing it was a burp followed by a few laughs.
• Carrying Sarah out in the snow on my shoulders to hand her over to her parents.
The party was hilarious and it was a great way to cap off a year in which we’d graduated from high school and most of us went to college. It also set the bar in terms of rage for the year ahead.
The Okinawan Blade
Let’s take a break from the ridiculousness of life. I had been thinking about getting a tattoo for close to a year. I’d wanted to get it soon after getting out of high school but timing didn’t work out. So I waited until January and got what I’ve used as the symbol of our program ever since I started the website.
I like it because it represents everything I’ve been involved with in the martial arts. From being a white belt to creating our website, earning a shodan, leading demos and seminars, and the lifelong relationships I’ve made in just over five years, I decided before getting inked that no matter how old I am, I’ll look at this blade with pride that I was able to do something special. I sat here for a bit thinking about putting it into words but, every time I look at that beast I’ve got a different story to tell.
I wear it with pride.
Adam Bockler – American Gladiator
It’s no secret I view myself as sitting on the top of the world, more often than not. I figured I was doing well in school, was in the best shape of my life (at that point), and wanted to try something different. So I heard American Gladiators was filming a new season and decided, “what the hell?” I filled out a giant application, and filmed some spots of me working out solo and throwing Tony and Mark around in the basement.
My favorite filming session came from doing an impression of one of my heroes, Hulk Hogan, host of the show. I dressed up in full Hogan garb and in front of about 20 people in Sarah’s basement, we filmed a pretty kickass promo. I felt bad for some of the dudes there, because they were some of Sarah’s friends most of the rest of us hadn’t ever met before. But the reaction they gave me was good, so that’s awesome.
Monster Jam
Another year of monster trucks, another year of hilarity. Thankfully I didn’t get a plug stuck in my ear this year, but Monster Jam was still awesome. I believe the gang was me, Pepper Water, Bob, Jon & Laura, and maybe Dirty Dave. Justin and Emily were supposed to come, but apparently couldn’t find their tickets, and ended up not coming back even after I spent forever at the box office trying to get them back into the show.
But whatever man, I still got to enjoy monster trucks, so all is good.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Semester's End is Near
The end of the semester is here and I'm pretty calm about the whole thing, actually. We finished up our audio final, and I'm getting good enough a grade in there I don't need to take the final. COM 101 will only cover material since the last exam, and MM 213 and ART 205 are final projects coupled with quizzes.
The end of the semester marks the end of my absence from karate at the high school. I've taken a Bradley-imposed sabbatical from there since August so I'm happy to finally start getting back in the groove of things. Whether the two days I can go are conditioning days or actual practice doesn't matter matter to me, because I'll get my nidan training either way and I could benefit from regular practice or more physicality.
The end of the semester marks a new busy period for me, partially because of the class I'll be taking, and partially for the karate DVD material I want to film and have edited by the time spring semester starts up.
Goals for winter break 2KH8/2K9
The end of the semester marks the end of my absence from karate at the high school. I've taken a Bradley-imposed sabbatical from there since August so I'm happy to finally start getting back in the groove of things. Whether the two days I can go are conditioning days or actual practice doesn't matter matter to me, because I'll get my nidan training either way and I could benefit from regular practice or more physicality.
The end of the semester marks a new busy period for me, partially because of the class I'll be taking, and partially for the karate DVD material I want to film and have edited by the time spring semester starts up.
Goals for winter break 2KH8/2K9
- film/edit Green Belt Requirements DVD for Metamora Martial Arts
- send out fundraising letters to various businesses for open tournament $$$
- clean out/organize this giant-ass box in my closet full of stuff from grade school and fresh/soph/junior year of high school
- do well in the class I'm taking
- attend as memorable a New Year's party as last year's
- start nidan training
- read a book...I just really want to read a non-school-assigned book, man
- film a surprise I just heard about tonight
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