Last Thursday, I rode in C's car with rhean and Y to Ohio for a karate tournament. During the trip I made some exciting discoveries, some of which I list below.

• Citgo gas stations in Pennsylvania and Ohio have luxurious bathrooms. And some of them even have large showers.
  
• Even within the same style of karate, the forms and techniques can vary wildly. An extra hand swirl here, some dynamic tension there, curved fingers in the spear-hand position, and different target locations make some of the seisan and seiuchin katas look drastically different.
  
• People from other dojos are really aggressive during sparring. I got seriously whacked.
  
• Little kids are really cute when they perform katas. Little kids are also really impressive when they perform katas.
  
• Higher-up black belts do some seriously crazy s*** when they spar, such as dropping their guards (it looked like a game of chicken) or rocking back and forth while leaning waaay back (drunken boxing!).
  
• Bonking someone on the head counts as a point during sparring. This seems to work for bigger kids against some of the smaller tykes.
  
• Hotel rooms built from concrete grain silos have echo-y acoustic centers.
  

Addenda:

• I-80 through Pennsylvania is under heavy construction. Seek alternate routes.
  
• There's a lawyer in Philly who (reportedly) looks just like rhean. Be on the lookout!