Hey martial arts rant, haven't done one of those in a while. To maintain and train one dominant side, or work for being ambidextrous? That is the question. An old-school line of thinking might run on weapons-logic: it wouldn't make sense to split your muscle growth or training for using a bow from both sides, nor would you want to pull a sword left-handed and maim the guy next to you pulling his sword right-handed. But, on the other hand, in the Filipino martial arts, which almost always have a weapon in each hand, training both sides is a very necessary thing. Without weapons, there might be a line of thought where you train one side for one quality and the other side for another - jab with the left, power with the right, in boxing, for example. Or, say, in aikido, one side is trained simply because it's easier to learn the complex minutae involved and then have techniques separate for each side, for a variant on the boxing theme. But, to flip that around, karate and jujitsu generally make a point of training both sides - karate as a contrast to boxing, in switching sides in hopes of a more versatile and position-in-space manner of fighting, and jujitsu as a contrast to wrestling (being able to maintain a platform to still strike from the inside needing both sides versus needing a strong side to shoot from and lift).
      And where was I going with that? Um. Hm. I suppose I'll just call it a quick survey of the topic and leave it at that.

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. I kind of have mixed feelings about this one; I'd been holding back from reading it on the basis that it seemed everyone and the mother was reading it, but meaning to eventually nonetheless. But when a pretty gal up and hands you a copy, you can't hardly say no, right? Basically, my split is that I enjoyed the content immensely, but just couldn't really get into the writing style very much. If you're interested in the kind of art and religious history that the story centers around, there's all sorts of trivia and things to look up beyond the novel (even if it's just half to verify that Brown wasn't just making something up). This is a completely random reference, but if you want another fun yarn about the Grail (though in a more and yet also less traditional sense), look up To Sift Through Bitter Ashes, by David Wilson.

Definitely not for vegetarian eyes, and as much as I haven't been eating meat as much as I used to, I salute Weird Meat for trying new and crazy things!

Some new picpics