sensei8

It takes as long as it's going to take, if at all!!

Wankan...it's shortness doesn't dispel it's power. I love Wankan. Much is said in a ahort Kata, compared to like, Gojushiho and/or Unsu.

According to some of the posts here; size matters. Therefore, those of smaller sizes need to give up for one reason or another. Well, that's how I'm preceiving it. Interesting! Define size. Are we talking about "total size"; height and/or weight and/or muscle? Size matters, but only in varying degrees. Personally, size means nothing to me. It's more about knowledge and skill than it's about size. I consider myself pretty good, and in that, it's not that I'm good; it's just that my opponent doesn't know anything.

I concur. It's a blast to teach your kids the martial arts. Only one of my kids didn't want to learn the martial arts; my youngest son,, who's 16 years old now, his love is basketball/baseball....in that order. The other three dabbled in the martial arts but, other things became more important to them. My youngest daughter was a chip of the old block when it came to the martial arts, but, then...FLUTE/PICCALO entered her life and man oh man she can play, and she's only in the 9th grade. My kids at first had difficulty in seperating dad from sensei. Put they learnt to seperate the two for the conduciveness across the board. They received no special treatment at any time, however, my kids thought that that came automatically with the territory. They learnt differently from day one! Enjoy each and every moment that you have them on the floor with you! Imho, nothing can compare...for now. I say for now because things can change in a moment.

My martial arts journey began when I was 7 years old; I'll be 53 this October 18th. My journey began because I was constantly being bullied at school, and in that, my lunch money was stolen from me everyday at school. No, I never told any teachers or the principal/vice principal because I was scared that they'd beat me up. My mom got tired of me raiding the frig, and by that, she got to the bottom of the problem fast. My mom enrolled me in a Shindokan Karate-do dojo for no other reason than that it was close to the house, which allowed me to ride my bike to and from the dojo. Fast forward to the present; 46 years later. My martial arts journey still continues and I've never regretted one day or one hour or one second. I've been blessed in the platitudes that I've earned, and even more so, I've been blessed with the many, many students that I've trained. My journey continues, even though my Dai-Soke is no longer with me/us. These recent days have been lonely without him, and I can only hope that I made him proud of me. I pray that my Dai-Soke saw that unquenchable fire burning within me, and in that, he saw the man that I came to be was good. My martial arts journey continues!

Sox's won the last game of the doubleheader with the Yanks, and now both the Sox's and the Yanks are TIED....boo hoo! It's down to todays final game. Tampa Bay VS the Royals; I'm afraid that's a no brainer...Tampa will win that one. So, the only thing I can hope for is that the Yanks BEAT the Sox's for the division tie, but, I don't like our chances to beat the Sox's because... NYY: D. Moseley (4-3, 4.77) BOS: J. Lackey (13-11, 4.47) That's why!! And the Tampa VS Royals... TB: W. Davis (12-10, 4.14) KC: S. O'Sullivan (4-6, 5.91) That's why!! A division tie would not be good for the Yanks. Why? By splitting Saturday’s doubleheader against the Red Sox, the Yankees (95-66) are no longer in control of their own fate in the East. New York is tied atop the division with Tampa Bay, and needs to beat Boston (88-73) on Sunday and have the Rays lose in Kansas City to win the East. If the Yankees and Tampa Bay finish the season in a tie, the Rays will be the division winner because they won the head-to-head season series 10-8, while New York would get the wild card. The team left with the wild card opens the playoffs Wednesday in Minnesota. The division winner hosts Texas on Wednesday. The Twins will give us a run for the money, but, imho, the Ranger VS Yankees...Yankees would easily win the series against the playoff choking Rangers, imho!! TODAY IS GOING TO BE A NAIL BITER ALL THE WAY!!! GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!

Black Belt Magazine's on-line forum didn't even try across the board, and now, Black Belt Magazine's on-line forum is no more. Shows that running a magazine as successful as Black Belt Magazine is, it doesn't guarantee success when it comes to on-line! Again, congrats Patrick...you're solid!!

Predictibility in the martial arts? Well, as a saying goes..."It's not over until the fat lady sings"!! The only certain thing about the martial arts is the spelling of martial arts.

Can women fight? Yes they can!!

Grandiose!! That's how I'd describe, as of late, the Executive Team of the Shindokan Hombu. I'd even say that the Shindokan Hombu's Executive Team was suffering from grandiose delusions. Here's why, imho. Speaking with the current Kancho last night, the Hombu is wanting me to reassume my previous Hombu duties as Chief Instructor of the Hombu. Why? "Because you're the highest ranking in Shindokan!" I hung up the phone! Kancho calls me back almost immediately and asked me to hear him out before I hang up on him again. With reservation, I listened. Here's his swiss cheese of an arguement... 1) Soke passed away 2 years ago....(Yeah) 2) Dai-Soke just passed away....(Yeah) 3) Newly elected San Dai-Soke isn't Judan....(Why?) 4) Newly elected Kaicho isn't Kudan....(Again...why?) Dumb reasons, imho!! I'm retired and that's that! Yes, Soke and Dai-Soke are no longer with us and yes, they were both Judan. But, to me, they were more than rank and title; they always have been and they always will be to me. Don't start a conversation with me with the words..."Rank"...and..."Title" because those things have nothing to do with the worth of the martial artist; no, it's knowledge that's paramount, and it's to the betterment that's paramount to me as well. Why hasn't the new San Dai-Soke, who's the son of our late Dai-Soke, assumed/accepted the rank of Judan, as it's written within the By-Laws? No, Soke's don't have to be the highest ranking in the ryu, but, that specific title per our By-Laws as written requires that the "Soke" must hold a Judan...automatically! When our Soke retired shortly before his death, our then Kaicho became the new Dai-Soke and the only Menkyo Kaiden, and in that, our Dai-Soke was promoted from Kudan to Judan by the outgoing Soke according to our By-Laws! Then, I was promoted from the Director of the Board of Regents to Kaicho, but, I refused anything that smelled like a rank promotion because I didn't want it! I've never wanted Kudan, I never sought out for it, and as a matter of fact, I've never sought out for any Yudansha rank after Sandan for personal reasons. I sought out for Sandan because Sandan is the accepted rank required to open a dojo under the Shindokan Chartership. On another note, I cherish my Hanshi title much more than my two Hachidan's because titles like, Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi are very extremely rare and in that, one can't test for those. Those titles are bestowed upon by the Hombu ONLY!! My refusal of Kudan infuriated our Dai-Soke because it went againt his wishes, that he finally came to accept, understand, and respect, and it was against the By-Laws. The new Kaicho per our By-Laws is to be promoted to Kudan. Our new Kaicho is Hachidan currently, yet, he's refused the Kudan promotion for his own personal reasons. It appears that I've started something by refusing what's been ordained in our By-Laws. Sorry! The Hombu DOESN'T need to do anything. The Executive Team is solid. The new San Dai-Soke, the new Kaicho/Chief Instructor, and the new Kancho [btw, this administrative title isn't required a rank promotion; only Soke and Kaicho] are solid individuals who are also great leaders, and more importantly, they're very extremely solid karateka's across the board. The Hombu and the student body is in great hands under these three, albeit, temporarily confused. The only reason I'm the so-called highest ranking is because the new appointees, Mr. Takahashi and Mr. Forsythe, have refused their new rank promotions, Judan and Kudan respectively, and therefore, I'm the highest ranking Shindokanist, by...6 months: I started learning Shindokan under Takahashi Sensei 6 months before Mr. Forsythe did, and by some freak thing or two, I was also promoted to Hachidan in Shindokan Karate-do 6 months before Mr. Forsythe. Yes, these are facts, but, again, they're dumb reasons...sorry...illadvised reasons. What's grandiose about the whole thing is that the Executive Team is looking at rank and it's supposed importantance. STOP IT!! I'm happy to be Kaiso [senior Advisor] and I'M RETIRED!! Imho, what the Hombu needs to do is LEAD and not look to rank...EVER!! I don't want to be the highest ranking of anything...IT MEANS NOTHING TO ME!! Our conversation ended with me...yes...hanging up on Kancho again because our conversation wasn't making any progress, and/or any sense to me. The Hombu can do what they want to do, but, it better not include me in any grandiose plans. Aaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! I'm completly disappointed in my Hombu!

This Hanshi struck this aluminum bat 3 times before it finally bent or broke.

I've always wondered what is it with the color "RED". For example, red is the hardest of all in the rainbow to work with in model building. It'll do everything and anything except what it's designed to do, and that is cover an area.

Aluminum bat? Why not!? After all, the shin has more surface and the like than a baseball, so I can see the possibilities of it. Still...OUCH!! Oh yeah...SHUGYO!!

20-17 for a Bear win...penalties killed the Packers! GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL...I hear ya'...I hear ya'!!

The body isn't as nimble as the head. The head goes..."You missed me, you missed me, now you got to kiss me". While the body goes..."Umph...I think I can, I think I can". Or something like that. Many times we easily move our head out of harms way, to only have our body suffer the attack.

I concur with Brian...absolutely!!

Daily exercise programs while at home...being that you're new to karate, I'd say your daily exercise while at home should be the three K's...Kihon, Kata, and Kumite. Yes, you can still do Kumite drills alone...hence...heavy bag/Wavemaster. Run through ALL of your Kihon! Then, run through all of your Kata! Then, abuse your heavy bag, Kumite that thing until the stuffing falls out! But be careful that you're adhering to doing your Kihon, Kata, and Kumite CORRECTLY! Be cognitive while your training/practicing at all times. If you don't, you'll run the risk of creating bad muscle memories that your sensei will have to correct again and again and again and...

Who just wants to be 'good'? I want to be the 'best'! However, being the 'best', imho, is nothing more than an illusion. It's understood that if one wants to be the 'best' at whatever, then by all means, train with the 'best', whomever that might be.

Yeah, the full article causes one to take a slight pause, not just the 4th paragraph. Thanks for the article Jay!

I accept that, however, being 'stronger' IS one being 'better'.

Actions are easy to take, but it's the responsibility of those actions that aren't that easy to accept, nor are they easy to own unless one is honest with others and themselves first.

Your first board won't be your last board. Before you know it, while on your journey, you'll have amassed a forest worth of wood at your feet. A signal of your many small, but important, victories along the path of your martial arts journey. Congrats and way to go!! Welcome to the world of Tameshiwara.

I was confusingly surprised that the Cowboy FINALLY won. Even though the win was over the Texans, a win is a win! What's up with the Chief's? 3-0 Congrats to the Chief's and to Brian!! Whatever thier doing...keep doing it!! Surprising loses and wins these past 3 weeks! Packers VS Bears...Monday Night Football...I'm going to pick Bears...Score 27-20 GO COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!

There's only one word that comes to my mind...AWESOME!! Business 101 would call this...Established Goodwill!! Thanks for all you do to make this community the success that it is because without your positive managing skills and the like, this milestone wouldn't have been possible. Congrats Patrick!!