Sch3lp’s Blog

So, Wired Magazine has an interview up of the number one online comic in the history of the intarwebs…
I advise you to read it.

There aren’t many interviews I would actually advise people to read on this subject, since reading about them and being oblivious to Penny-Arcade might affect your first impression. (And yes, it actually does matter to me, because Gabe and Tycho are my heroes.) But this interview is very much worthy of affecting that possible first impression, and hopefully it will get you to read their website as frequently as myself.

Now go and read it, it’s only 4 pages, and it’s got some nice extras. Definitely worth checking out.

This saturday I obtained my Shodan grade for Kendo.
For those unfamiliar with Kendo and its grading system, Shodan is the equivalent of a black belt.
So now, I am a black belt kendoka if you will…

I did the exam after the Tamiza Cup in Sint-Niklaas. We also competed with 4 teams (of 3 kendoka’s) of Meishinkan. The team I was in got bumped already in the first round. But if it’s a consolation, we got beaten by the team that eventually came out to be the winners of the cup, a team from Frankfurt (DE), so…

Whenever I had the time I snapped some pictures, and they can be viewed as usual on my Picasa WebAlbums page.

Yesterday during the rollerparade I suddenly couldn’t roll my left skate anymore…
A wheel was jammed. The next stop wasn’t that far anymore, so I decided to “skateboard-push” to that stop.
Once I sat down I forced it to roll and I could finish the last part of the tour.
Then this afternoon, when I decided to take out the bearings for cleaning (each one of them wasn’t going smooth), I popped a bearing out of that jammed wheel, and then I saw the damage inside…By forcing the wheel jam, I totally grinded the shielding and bearing-holders.

Some dirt must have gotten behind the shielding and it mangled everything up quite good as you can see in the pictures below…
Learned one thing out of this though: this will be the last time I’m buying ABEC-7 bearings from BEVO. ILQ-9 Twincam’s all the way.
I snapped some pictures of the wrecked bearing:

I’m still enjoying the lingering feeling of this past weekend, when Ragnhild Cornelisse of the Cone Kicking Gumbies came over to Hasselt to teach us Freestyle Slalom moves.
On saturday we went to the Kapermolen Park in Hasselt, and used the floor of the local outdoor skatepark as our cone-space. We learned the nelson and compass family tricks and a lot of personal tips. In the afternoon it was free practice, so a bunch of us stayed at the skatepark to welcome the german guys from 4Wheel Freestyle, in the burning sun. Then we grabbed something to eat and drove to Antwerp to join the Antwerp On Wheels rollerparade.
There were rollerskate dancers from Rotterdam who taught us some tricks, and a crowd to watch us perform our freshly learned tricks on the cones

On sunday we were able to use a cool (as in “not hot”) hall thanks to Tim, as our location for the 2nd day of the clinic. People were pleased, Ragnhild did her best to teach us new tricks and transitions. Afterwards, because we started late, we all went to the Quick to have some lunch and then it already was time for Ragnhild to go home again. We’re all looking forward to a future time when she can come over to Belgium again.

The overall atmosphere of the weekend was great, it had nothing but good vibes surrounding it.
Well… that’s nto really true. The only “mood-killer” of the weekend was that goddamned camera flash of the civilian police car that took a picture of my speeding car
I hope I won’t lose my driver’s license, but chances are real… Anyway, that’s nothing to worry about right now, if the weather gods are mild we’ll get some good weather this evening for another Rollerparade in Hasselt.

Pictures are on my webalbum:

And here are some videos:

It’s been a week since our Andorra trip, so I figured it’s about time for an aftermath post.
We stayed at camping Valira in Andorra la Vella, about 1 kilometer from the Dojo, with a bunch of tents.
Most of us went to the morning trainings, and had some spare-time in the afternoon to go to the city center, go swimming, play Risk, …
We also did some group-activities like going to a place in the mountains where there were stone BBQ’s and tables set-up for tourists to use freely. We also went to a spa called “Caldea”, they even had a show in the main swimming pool with smoke and fireworks and stuff. Really cool.
On saturday there was the championship and exams. I got a “practice”-exam for Shodan, and I passed. Stein passed his Nidan exam. And Kris Leunis got 3rd place in the championship.
Thanks to everyone for the good times.

Pictures I took are as usual in my webalbum: