sensei8

This topic, for me, is a difficult one to discuss. In the past, I never faced the unnerving possibility of being away from the MA in any shape, time, way, and/or form. That was then, this is now. These past 18 months, cancer has affected me in many ways, MA wise. My cancer has metastasized to my T4 and T12. This has greatly diminished my ability to transition to my right side. Difficult to walk often times, and now my mid-back, where my T12 is located, hurts quite a lot to move, taking a deep breath, cough, and/or laugh. 18 months ago, the Urologist who gave me my cancer diagnoses, was surprised that I was walking. Now, 15 months later, walking tasks me severely. The time is around the corner, that I must walk away from the floor permanently. I pray not, but that's for another time to discuss. There may not be a time where I can come back to the floor. This isn't my choice, but the fight that I fight might have to make that choice for me. I still train as often as I can. The good news is that the gym I attend has an elevator. Walking up and down stairs is doable, but good grief, it's very slow going in both directions. Just think, I use to go up and down 50 flights of stairs for a warm-up not too long ago. Certain things I can't do much anymore at the gym, like, pushing/pulling a weighted sled and the Stairmaster. Often times I feel so worthless, as a man, husband, father, and as a MAist but I still fight, and will continue to fight. The MA floor is sacred ground to me. Experiencing that which this topic is discussion is very new to me, and that which is the unknown to me, scares me to no end. The old adage speaks about getting back on the horse, and I respect that, and try my most darn to do so. More importantly, 7 times down, 8 times up...for me now more than ever...that proverb is my proof is on the floor!!

Welcome to KF, gspell68; glad that you're here!! Points to be considered concerning the fists alignments and the like.

The best marketing tool is YOU!! Believe in oneself is Marketing 101. There's no soundproof marketing tool because the targets change as often as wind direction. Books and the like have flooded our industry as frequent as a thought that comes and goes. Please don't misunderstand me. there are several solid marketing how-to books and tools. Those tools don't answer every question and/or concern that a MA school owner/CI faces on a daily basis. Yet, those books and/or tools do one thing or another...work or they don't work, but what they might do consistently is birth an idea/thought, and at that moment, that which one's searching for arrives in the form of the core basis of one's MA school. Trial and error are the corner stone of any business, and yes, your MA school IS a business. Any business must be cared for daily with the same drive and energy that the CI puts forward whenever he/she is on the floor. The only bad idea is the one not tried!! My primary marketing tool was always me. Of course, I had the knowledge and experience of Shindokan as well as how to teach, but how to run a MA school from A to Z was another thing. I had a minimum of an idea about how to run a business, and that was ok, but not enough. The hard knock life of running a business requires some of the most difficult lessons that I ever learned, and I did learn, but at an expense. The whole adage of Location, Location, Location are very true words, but so is Rent, Utilities, and Waste Management. I was fortunate enough to learn from my Soke and Dai-Soke, other than Shindokan, was that any school of the MA IS a business first, and foremost. Yes, my school of the MA is operated inside of a dojo, but the building isn't the dojo because it's a business. If I've an overhead, than my dojo is the crucial part of my business. Advertising is hit and miss, as well as it can be quite expensive to all get out. My two primary tools of marketing for over 40 years have always been word of mouth and flyers; and my P&L will show my business very viable. Either can make you or break you in a blink of an eye. Bad word of mouth will hit you where you live, and a bad flyer will find some trash can or floor faster than a speeding bullet. Trial and error...over and over and over until the proper formula of success is ever found. Discouraging in running a business?? Absolutely!! Japanese proverb, Nana korobi ya oki...7 times down, 8 times up...or something more familiar...If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. If the answer to marketing is found in a book, then go with that book. If the answer to marketing is found in trial and error, then go with that. If the answer to marketing is found by taking advice from whomever, then go for it. Wherever the answer to marketing comes from, the embrace it. One last thing, CHANGE IS INEVITABLE exclusively in business and marketing. What works today, doesn't mean that it'll work tomorrow. Excellent customer service is key to attracting and keeping customers, and your students ARE customers, because the CI's job is to get prospective customers to come to the door, and many times, customer service piques their interest. Hang in there!!

Congrats to Hollie and Ashley on their wedding!! Reminds me of the Carpenters song...We've Only Just Begun...only great days ahead for you both!!

What I've seen so far of Season 4 hasn't disappointed me whatsoever. I love how the writers, and all bring the episodes to a raging boil, wanted more and more!!

Thank you, Ramona and Patrick, so very much!! I’ll be forever thankful to all of you for being by my side in the toughest days of my life. You are all the most loyal that I have ever met. Everyone here and afar have helped me to get through this difficult, but yet blessed time, and I will be forever humbled by your kindness. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

Thank you, Brian!! To you and everyone here at KF, I too, would like to wish all, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Hopefully things are better in your county and the several others; sounded crazy for sure. There's never a dull moment as a LEO, huh!? Be safe, my friend!!

I sincerely believe that this runs rampant in every MA, or in anything where human beings are being taught anything by other human beings. Patience is a very vital element for being a teacher, and for those teachers that lack patience, the most promising students are given far better attention than those students that struggle. Without patience, there is no effective and quality of learning whatsoever. The bad thing is that this type of teacher sticks out like a sore thumb, and if that type of teacher isn't made accountable for their actions, then not just the selected few, but the entire Student Body suffers. Struggling students are of the same value as a talented and gifted student and should be treated equally across the board. Perhaps it goes beyond the lack of patience, if so, then said impatient teacher is just not a good teacher at all. Lacking teaching skills can be hidden behind the gifted and talented students, whereas flaws of the teacher can be readily seen. It's sad to witness and it's even worse to just stand by and do nothing at all. Teachers forget that all if their students are the perfect representation of themselves. Proof is on the floor!!

Feel free to take whatever energy I am not using in making a resolution and apply it to that, Bob! I would also love to see you cancer free in 2022!Thank you so very much, Zaine; means everything to me and my family!! Unfortunately, stage 4 prostate cancer isn't curable. Yet, the prognosis is hopeful in that I'll die of something else, but not prostate cancer, according from my doctors. The immediate goal is for remission, partial or complete. It's all up to God!!

I believe that wanting to start from scratch after a real long time away from the floor is the honorable thing to do. Any CI worth their salt would acknowledge it respectfully. For anyone else aren't in agreement need to remember that you don't need their approval, just their respect of your decision.

To put my cancer in remission!!

Good health... There's so many types of Health: Physical Mental Emotional Social Environmental Health VS Wellness... Health once meant absence of disease. After some time, health was extended to mean good state of the mind as well. Albeit it's more than just being physically well; you will have to be mentally good too to be called a healthy person. Health consists in keeping the body free of diseases, whereas, I'm not healthy because of my prostate cancer. Wellness, on the other side of the coin, is the state of living a healthy lifestyle. There is half a dozen of elements that make wellness what it is. I refer you make to the list aforementioned, with the addition of intellectual health and spiritual health. On the other hand, wellness aims at the general well-being of the individual; wellness does not aim at the treatment of various types of diseases. This is what I've learned these past 18 months of fighting my Stage 4 Prostate Cancer from my all of Medical Oncologists, especially Dr. Goodman. My body is fighting to return back to healthy, however, my wellness MUST fight just as hard as my body is to corral and fight and win against my cancer. My wellness runs the gambit, and while I'm a very strong individual, I too have my moments where my wellness diminishes, which doesn't serve my health at all.

You use to call me the Beast with my workout when I was losing all of that weight, well, you're the true Beast. Your workouts are beastlike, and I must add, darn you must be bushed at the end of your workouts!! Keep up being that beast with your workouts...I'm impressed!!

Kind of a double whammy. if timing on point, to the opponent can't see due to blurry eyes from the palm strike to the nose, and can't breathe due the throat strike. Like you point out, that palm strike might be enough.

Yeah, if you were to watch the new Cobra Kai season WHILE you having just been married, I don't think there'd be no getting back from that. Cobra Kai will still be there for you to enjoy...after. Congrats on the up coming wedding, ashworth.

I hear what you're saying because I've trained quite a lot of Pastors, and not just Pastors and their kids that I wasn't a member of their church, but Pastors and their kids that I WAS a member of their church. I once even had a satellite dojo AT one of the churches I was a member of until the Pastor moved away. I never sought them out, they came to me of their own volition, and I didn't teach all of them that came to me because, imho, they weren't serious in their tone.

Thank you, Brian!!

Congrats, Wayofaswede; well deserved. See, allowing the Testing Cycle to take care of itself works.

Brian's advice is solid across the board. In Shindokan we always say this...In Shindokan, you MUST experience it in order to appreciate its effectiveness. The only way to experience Shindokan is through resistance training, in our opinion.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Saw my Oncologist this morning. He had not received my blood work lab results yet which I did on Tuesday. He'll check with the lab and get back to me with the results. Dr. Goodman, after our conversation over my concerns, says that with my body responding very well, that we can hold off on the Radiation Therapy until June. This will also allow my GoFundMe campaign a chance to receive more donations. Dr. Goodman was glad to know that we started a GoFundMe page because he's well aware of the struggles we're having financial. I also spoke to Dr. Goodman about the severe pain I'm experience in my mid-back just below my shoulder blade radiating horizontally across my mid-back. He examined me, asked a few questions, and poked here/there, he then says that that's in relationship of my T12, which has a microdot of cancer. So, Dr. Goodman orders a Chest and Thoric Spine X-Ray to see if that's the reason or if I just slept wrong one night. If the X-Rays shows strong indications that I didn't sleep wrong one night about a week and a half ago, he'll order a shot to my T12. This is an outpatient procedure, and I'll be wide awake. Now, this shot acts like concrete for the body, which immediately takes the pain away; I've a brand-new appreciation for concrete. X-Ray results will take a week. I've an appointment with Dr. Goodman in 4 weeks. All in all, no concerns and no worries from Dr. Goodman!! Interesting side bar...Dr. Goodman's dad, Oscar Goodman, was once the Mayor of Las Vegas from 1999 to 2011, and Dr. Goodman's mom, Carolyn Goodman, succeeded him as mayor in 2011, where she's the current Mayor of Las Vegas. My next appointment with Dr. Goodman will be January 13, 2022 at 8:30am.

UPDATE: Received my Treatment shot of Eligard (Leuprolide Acetate) 30mg yesterday, December 8, 2020. Albeit, for some strange reason, the shot wasn't like the last one. Last shot I felt a hot fire sensation in my left shoulder at about half-way through the injection, my shoulder back then was on fire for just about 15 seconds. This time, at the exact same injection location, was about the same except that I experienced that same hot fire but this time I experienced a lot of pain for about 25 seconds. This shot has to be injected slowly; matter of fact, Eligard (Leuprolide Acetate) is a chemical that must be kept in a freezer, which means it takes about 30 minutes to get to room temperature. I'm told the burning sensation is because of the chemical found inside the shot. Why it hurt so much this time is unknown, but good ding-a-ling it HURT!! Had a hard time driving home because I wasn't feeling so good after my Treatment shot at all. I slept a few hours once I got home, and once I woke up, I felt a little better, but my left shoulder sure was sore. At first, they were out of Eligard, and what they did have required a much longer needle. They mentioned to give my shot to by butt, but I squashed that immediately because last time I had a Treatment shot back there, I was on fire for 30 long minutes. No thank you!! They told me they can do my left shoulder instead.... thank you, Lord!! I'll see my Oncologist this Friday morning, 830am. I'll discuss with him about why I didn't have my Radiation Therapy as scheduled, as well as a few other items of concern. Linda and I weren't able to attend the Support Group on December 1, 2021 at 7pm because I wasn't feeling well at all. We'll try to attend January 5, 2022, God willing.

As I post this, I'm overwhelmed across the board for what has been posted so far. THANK YOU!! If not a donation, and like Patrick has said, there's no pressure whatsoever on anyone, perhaps by just informing whomever you can about my GoFundMe campaign, is as important as the donations themselves. I struggled to ask Patrick for his help because I'm a very proud man, and it took my wife, Linda, to convince me to seek out earnestly Patrick's counsel by reminding me that pride comes before the fall. Words can never ever express my sincerest appreciation to Patrick for helping me with my GoFundMe campaign. Nor can I ever properly express my sincerest appreciation to you, the KF members, who've been there right by my side supporting me as I fight the good fight. Donations or not, you're all top notch in my book, and always in my heart; I truly thank you all for being there with your time. To all of you, I greatly appreciate your heartfelt kindness now and always. There are far more worthy people than myself, in that, I'll never take your love, support, and advice for granted. THANK YOU ALL!!

Well, why not? Like Zaine has said, "it's comics". Photographic memory or not, Batman or not, being effective in 127 different MA is quite far-fetched and improbable to the Nth degree, however, once again, "it's comics" and anything is probable in that realm. Just have to love the imagination of comics, and I do.

Beginners are overwhelmed one way or another, and terminology is right near the top of the list. After all, in a small way, the Student Body IS learning a new language of some sort. Having to learn that all a student must learn besides MA terminologies, can be a daunting task. What I've no toleration for is when students outside of one's style/dojo rudely correct any said MA terminology, as if that's more important than the physical training. Seeing that I struggled to learn Spanish in high school, learning Shindokan terminologies was no walk in the park. However, wanting to desperately communicate with Soke and Dai-Soke, who were both born and raised in Okinawa, and that they both barely spoke any English whatsoever, and that they spoke in Uchinaguchi/Japanese constantly along with their crude broken English laced in, picking up their language nuances did make learning Shidokan terminologies far simpler. Now because Japan annexed Okinawa back somewhere in the late 1800's, Japan sought to curtail the Okinawan language by inflicting very strict assimilation policies to replace Okinawan languages with the Japanese language and prohibited the locals to speak Okinawan in public. That was the reason that Soke/Dai-Soke spoke both dialects free, however, among themselves, they spoke literally Uchinaguchi. At my dojo students are taught Shindokan terminologies whereas they'll always hear me state in Japanese and then immediately followed in English. I don't push the terminologies out and away from either English or Japanese because I am not there to teach language 101, I'm there to teach effective Shindokan. Although we do play games in order to help them acquire Shindokan terminologies because I do see and relate to the frustrated look on their faces; I can see that they are most assuredly, and honestly do want to learn the proper Shindokan terminologies. Yet, I do not require that they must learn the Japanese terminologies, speaking them in English is quite fine with me.