# A poke in the eye with a dull stick



## Bill Mattocks (Feb 27, 2012)

Decided to try a new technique in the dojo tonight; blocking a bo thrust with my eyeball.  Didn't really work out that well.

View attachment $431040_3235745247505_1082932103_33313226_1616636558_n.jpg
View attachment $424928_3235740847395_1082932103_33313217_1493826549_n.jpg

Some of you may recall from various discussions we've had about wearing safety or sport glasses in the dojo; I use 'em and I love 'em.  Well, tonight, I believe they saved me from a trip to the hospital.

Basically, I bought a pair of these online from China about three years ago after I had been in the dojo for awhile.  My street glasses were taking a beating, and my eyesight is so bad that I can't see what sensei is teaching.  I found these and I've loved 'em ever since:

http://www.clearlylenz.com/new_product/Prescription.Sports.Goggles/Prescription.Sports.Goggles_219

View attachment $20109101344590680.jpg

I sent them my prescription and my PD (pupillary distance) and they mailed 'em to me; took about two weeks.

So anyway, the shatterproof lenses are not quite.  But they did well; when the bo thrust went through one of them, it shattered into plastic bits, not glass.  The edges were not even all that sharp.  Went all in my gi and on the floor, but nobody got cut except I got a little bit over my eye from the bo itself, I think.

I'm going to be buying more of these.  But in the meantime, I think maybe I need to not block bo thrusts with my eyeball, what do you think?


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## Josh Oakley (Feb 27, 2012)

Glad they helped you out. That could have been bad. I learned the value of face protection when I had a chunk of a broken stuck in my face.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk


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## Ironcrane (Feb 27, 2012)

If you're suggesting that blocking weapons with your eye is no good, than I know someone who'd disagree with you.






Side note: Yes, I know this reply is lame.


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## Big Don (Feb 28, 2012)

Glad you're OK. Yeah, blocking with any part of your face is never a good idea.


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## harlan (Feb 28, 2012)

From a weapons training POV, a tsuki that close was the responsibility of your training partner. Safety first...should have been able to pull that.


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 28, 2012)

Hey I tried to block a bo with my ankle once....while I was in the air&#8230; 
And it worked great... that is if you don&#8217;t mind spending some time with extra gear afterwards


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## Brian R. VanCise (Feb 28, 2012)

Bill I am glad you are okay!

I blocked the tip of a stick once with my eyeball and really would not recommend that!


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## lklawson (Feb 28, 2012)

Glad you're OK.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Sukerkin (Feb 28, 2012)

Aye mate!  That could've been very nasty indeed!  Very happy that you are not going to be sporting a Pirate look any time soon and also a very good advert for those protective glasses you wear.  I shall have to ponder getting some made for work - being upside down in the depths of a panel and having to have goggles on over your glasses has never been ideal.  I didn't realise that something reasonably priced was available :bows:.


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## shesulsa (Feb 28, 2012)

Well ... now you can be our tester for the "better than a poke in the eye" benchmark. LMAO!!!

... ahem ...

Seriously, I'm glad you're okay - could have been SO much worse.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 28, 2012)

Sukerkin said:


> Aye mate!  That could've been very nasty indeed!  Very happy that you are not going to be sporting a Pirate look any time soon and also a very good advert for those protective glasses you wear.  I shall have to ponder getting some made for work - being upside down in the depths of a panel and having to have goggles on over your glasses has never been ideal.  I didn't realise that something reasonably priced was available :bows:.



FYI, I have had people ask about these in the past; many have expressed concerns that they would 'fog up'.  They are goggles, yes, but not in the true 'air excluding' way that perhaps a dive mask or swim goggles are.  They have plenty of space around them on all sides, just like regular glasses; but they have the elastic strap, which is great when I get to sweating, and the nosepad is heavily padded with soft clear rubber of some kind, as are the insides of the temples and the frames are somewhat bendy and certainly do not break themselves (although the lenses are apparently not 'really' shatterproof, as we see).  They took a mighty blow with the thrust of the bo; it knocked me back and off my feet, and the sound of it was heard through the dojo.  I rate them even more highly now than they did before.  They were essential for me for good eyesight in the dojo; now they are essential for me for the safety factor as well.  I can't tell you how many times I've been punched or struck in the face in the dojo, and while they have been knocked around sideways and even off my head entirely, they've never been damaged until now, and my eyes have not been hurt at all.


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## Bob Hubbard (Feb 28, 2012)

Bill, I wear these

under something similar to this




Though I like this one better


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 28, 2012)

Bob Hubbard said:


> Bill, I wear these
> View attachment 16151
> under something similar to this



Your glasses look similar to mine, where do you get them?

As to the headgear, I only wear it when sparring in competition, and then only the foamy stuff or my Piranha Gear leather headgear, along with my goggles.

I wear the goggles at all times in the dojo; I doubt I'd wear full headgear at all times.  I'd be sweating like a fiend.


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## Big Don (Feb 28, 2012)

Bob Hubbard said:


> Though I like this one better
> View attachment 16153


How did he break his hand? He tried to punch me in the face...


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 28, 2012)

Big Don said:


> How did he break his hand? He tried to punch me in the face...



I once lightly and jokingly pucnhed a fencing mask and I discovered that the foil is not the only thing that can cut you

after that you need


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## Bob Hubbard (Feb 28, 2012)

I got mine when I was studying under Tim Hartman.  Not sure where he got them from but I think he still carries them.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 28, 2012)

Bob Hubbard said:


> I got mine when I was studying under Tim Hartman.  Not sure where he got them from but I think he still carries them.



Prescription?  I need prescription.


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## lklawson (Feb 28, 2012)

Yea verily, I always wear eye protection, at a minimum, whenever I do any sparring at all.

These look interesting to me because, while my eyesight is good enough for sparring, it's not good enough to see the sights on a handgun well enough for target shooting.  (However, my eyesight is good enough for "combat shooting" at common SD ranges; I can drill 'em in the eye at 15' and under.  NRA 30' "Handgun" courses of fire, I need the sights but can't see them well enough without correction.)

However, I just recently bought a pair of regular reading specs from Zenni and can't use them.  Either I screwed up when I entered my prescription or they screwed up when they made them.  Either way, it's $20 flushed down the crapper and it makes me gun-shy about trying it again.

That's the problem with ordering prescription spectacles from a Chinese website.  If it's screwed up, you can't return them (realistically).

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Sukerkin (Feb 28, 2012)

:chuckles: $20!  :faints:  What's the exchange rate at present between Pounds and Dollars?  Call it $1.5 = £1 and my glasses I bought the other month were over $1000.  You can chuck away quite a few $20 pairs for that kind of money .


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 28, 2012)

Sukerkin said:


> :chuckles: $20!  :faints:  What's the exchange rate at present between Pounds and Dollars?  Call it $1.5 = £1 and my glasses I bought the other month were over $1000.  You can chuck away quite a few $20 pairs for that kind of money .



http://glassyeyes.blogspot.com/ is my suggestion.  The problems are that the dealers are overseas (for you and for me), the shipping times can be long, and you have to enter both your RX and your PD (which many people do not know, but can get or figure out on their own).  Then low-cost mail-order glasses are your friend.  Some advise against them, and I would advise caution as your primary pair.  But for backup, spares, sparring, sports, you name it; wonderful prices and I personally have not had any issues. YMMV.


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## Steve (Feb 28, 2012)

Glad you're okay, buddy.


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## lklawson (Feb 28, 2012)

Sukerkin said:


> :chuckles: $20!  :faints:


That's why I even bothered taking the risk.  If it were a $1,000 risk I would have never gambled.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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## Bob Hubbard (Feb 28, 2012)

Bill, Don't know if the ones I got come in prescription. I'll try and remember to ask Tim when I talk to him later.


Regarding Zenni, I used them once. Price was right, had to get my prescription from my eye doctor and do some measurements on my own.  Glasses are cheap, seem decent for light duty, little fragile for heavy wear, but that's more the frames I picked (I went real cheap to test them out).  Comparable glasses from my eye doc run $400.


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## Bill Mattocks (Feb 28, 2012)

Bob Hubbard said:


> Bill, Don't know if the ones I got come in prescription. I'll try and remember to ask Tim when I talk to him later.



Don't worry too much about it, I was simply curious.  The ones I had (and will order again) cost very little - I did have to pay a bit more because my prescription is so extreme.  I was just wondering is all.  Thanks!


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## elder999 (Feb 28, 2012)

Glad you're okay, Bill.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 5, 2012)

Got the new goggles!  Even better, they fit under my Pirhana Gear head protection, which I like better than the foam-dipped stuff (the old goggles just didn't fit under it).

View attachment 16263

These came from Zenni Optical; very inexpensive, even with my strong prescription.


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## Sukerkin (Apr 5, 2012)

:grins:  Looking ready to rock there my friend .


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## Buka (Apr 5, 2012)

I'm glad you're okay, bud. And I hope you ordered some more of those glasses.

It must have been quite a point of view from your perspective.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 5, 2012)

Buka said:


> I'm glad you're okay, bud. And I hope you ordered some more of those glasses.
> 
> It must have been quite a point of view from your perspective.



It was over pretty quickly!  Hard to say what I saw, except stars!


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## Cyriacus (Apr 5, 2012)

Bill, I think the problem here is that You made a rookie mistake, and forgot that You need to condition Your eyeball for hard contact before You actually dive right into it.


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## Bill Mattocks (Apr 5, 2012)

Cyriacus said:


> Bill, I think the problem here is that You made a rookie mistake, and forgot that You need to condition Your eyeball for hard contact before You actually dive right into it.



I suspect you are absolutely right.  I need an eyeball makiwara.


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## Xue Sheng (Apr 6, 2012)

You need....Iron Eyeball Training


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## lklawson (Apr 6, 2012)

Xue Sheng said:


> You need....Iron Eyeball Training


Is there a Jow rinse that I can use along with that?  I'm thinking something with lots of alcohol and red pepper...

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


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