Capoeira!

Some responses to me sharing that I practice Capoeria:
"Awesome!"
"Impressive."
"...what? You do...what?"
"Aren't you too tall?"

I have fallen in love with a girl named Capoeria. And by girl, I mean a Brazilian Martial Art that incorporates dance, deadliness, and awesomeness into the most holistically satisfying experience imaginable. Actually, let's test that statement: Envision something satisfying. Like, really really satisfying. Now add a rocking chair and contentedly rubbing your belly to that image. It's like that! (If being in a rocking chair and rubbing your belly was your original answer, just add teddy bears and the smell of momma's cookies in the oven to that.)

Pronounced cap-o-a-da(ish), it is great for building strength, learning how to defend yourself, and simultaneously looking awesome. I mean, there are plenty of deadly martial arts out there, but how many teach you to walk on your hands and do a back flip as a part of their natural curriculum? And how many of them use such things in practical ways? It requires minimal exposure for the supremacy of a spinning-handspring-kick-of-death to be felt, and the affirming "oooh's" and "ahhh's" are nearly knee-jerk in their authenticity. Indeed, such ascendancy resonates bone-deep, apparently encoded on some strand of the human DNA. Like a mighty Leviathan rising from the vasty deeps, its presence simply must be felt.

Not that i'm saying I can do any of those things yet! Let us just say that I can "hold my own" and that I "do just fine." Nevertheless, my deposit of a few months has, much as that persuasive Portuguese bank teller assured me, yielded maximum quantities of enjoyment. The interest rate is storybook perfect, and the long-term enjoyment exponential in growth.

I am a self-avowed, if you would allow the term, obsessor. One who obsesses, fixates, and circles 'round, moth like in my devotion. I accept this fact with a mixture of pride and resignation, and recognize that I am a man condemned to wander the cavernous tunnels of always needing to find something new. This having been said, I have also found a few key activities that combine to form a hard, immutable core around which the peripheral and more fleeting obsessions gravitate in elliptical paths. Capoeira is most definitely one of these, and I couldn't be more pleased! It is here to stay, and I must ride this confirming truth to its ultimate termination. If along the way I happen to learn to back flip...well, it never hurts to know how to back flip. I am told by reputable back flipping sources that it is a great party trick.