sensei8

Congrats, scohen0300; well deserved!!

UPDATE: Appointment to my Oncologist has been moved up to August 10, 2021 at 9AM!! Will see my new Cardiologist today, August 3, 2021 at 2PM. Had my phone interview this morning with SSA for Disability due to my Cancer; will receive determination in and/or about 2 weeks. Still trying to secure a Dietician.

Yes it is, Patrick. Yet I shudder to think just how long, or the very end, I would've had to endure had I not secured any medical insurance. Quick update: The Comprehensive Cancer Center was able to move my appointment to August 18, 2021 with a check-in time of 8:15am, and 9am to see my Oncologist. They'll continue to move me to an even sooner appointment should there be any more cancelations. On another note: I've not a Cardiologist appointment at Southwest Medical Associate for August3, 2021 at 2pm. Only appointment that hasn't been secured as of yet is for my Dietician.

Congrats. Brian for reaching this major milestone. Patrick, highlighted many of Brian's accolades he's achieved for KF, the community, and its members. His contributions at KF are without any reservations whatsoever across the board. I'm most fortunate to have him as my friend in and out of the Martial Arts. I've learned so many valuable lessons from Brian over these many years. His staunch support of KF, its community, and its members is truly of no surprise. Brian has loyally and unselfishly spent every day of those 15 years as part of Staff here at KF to give of himself for the betterment of and for KF and all call KF home. Thank you from, the bottom of my heart, Brian for all that you have, and will no doubtfully continue to contribute in every shape, way, and/or form. For many more years to come, Brian, your light here at KF will never demise, no, not even glimpse of a flutter; these aren't idle words whatsoever. I bow to Brian for achieving this major milestone, so, here's to another 15 years here at KF, if that be Gods will.

Welcome to KF, Silverbullet; glad that you're here!!

Thank you, Himokiri Karate. I've lived that staple, Proof is on the floor, for as long as I can remember both in and out of my MA life. Similar in that we both stem from Shuri-te, but not similar because Okinawa-te is an equal part of our core. Shindokan's ideology is of self-improvement, discipline and hard training. We're not from the same group or type. We're similar in that we are stepped deeply in grappling, numerous locks, sweeps, and throws. Our primary goal is to get behind our opponent in any shape, way, and or form; we're 85% hands and 15% feet, with our kicks targeted waist down. If the given MA isn't effective, then there's no since in pursuing it. If I was drowning in the ocean, and I went down twice already, and I was about to go down for the third and finally time, and an inner-tube floated by me, and it saved my life, I'd kiss an inner-tube for the rest of my life. I wouldn't care what that which saved my life is called because it saved my life. Labels are meaningless to me, and the time to not worry about labels is when it saved my life. No, there's no wiki on our brand of Shindokan, and that was by design, and wasn't a mistake. Soke's mindset was that if you want to learn Shindokan, then one needed to train in Shindokan. We never had a website, even though in our later history we fought tooth and nail to get Soke and Dai-Soke to change their minds, but that was to no avail. Stubborn to their core!! There's Aikido Shindokan, Shindokan Budo, and so on and so forth. None of these are Shindokan Saitou-ryu whatsoever...none of them. Their shingle might read Shindokan, and that's fine, and that's where the similarities end. I've seen a Shindokan Karate Dojo before, but it's a Shotokan dojo. See what I mean by labels an how they can't be judge by them.

Nothing but pure gold in your post right here. Solid and worth a fortune. Train hard and train well.

Scheduled today my first appointment here in Las Vegas for a Medical Oncologist. It's August 20, 2021 at 10:00AM; check-in at 9:15AM at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. This first visit will be for consultation only; kind of like a greet and meet get to know each other and etc. Then very shortly after that, treatments will begin again. Still my concern is that it'll be 6 months since treatment, and 3 months since I missed my May 28th shot. Worried about my numbers increasing. Should a appointment cancel before August 20th, I'll be rescheduled for a sooner time and date. Still trying to put a fire under the LBJ Hospital Records Department for ALL of my medical records, but it seems not much of priority for them. Excited and nervous all at the same time.

In a nutshell... 1950|Shindokan Saitou-ryu; founded by Fuyuhiko Saitou, Soke, Judan 1956|Soke, and his student, Yoshinobu Takahashi, Godan, move to the USA from Nanjo, Okinawa 1957|Shindokan Hombu established in Canoga Park, CA *Soke forms Shindokan’s governing body; Shindokan Karate and Kobudo Association (SKKA) *Yoshinobu Takahashi Sensei is selected by Soke to be Kaicho[President] of the Shindokan Hombu Choshu Saitou (1865 - 1962) (Okinawa-te*) (This is the father of Soke Saitou) (*Choshu Saitou's Okinawa-te Instructor is unknown) Fuyuhiko Saitou (1917 - 2008) (Shindokan** founder; Shindokan was founded in 1950.) (**His instructors were, his father, Choshu Saitou, this is the Okinawa-te side of Shindokan, and Shigekazu Ishikawa, this is the Shuri-te side of Shindokan) Shindokan was birthed/founded in the village of Tamagusuku located in the Shimajiri District, and as part of a merge in 2006, that area is now known as the city of Nanjo. Soke's life and MA experiences provided for the groundings of Shindokan's methodology, ideology, as well as its philosophies can be credit to his father, I suppose. After all, his father was his primary MA instructor and quite a lot of influences and directions from his father.

Yes, it did, Patrick. Thank you for asking. My new PCP is Dr. Jeffrey Evenson, and his bedside manner is quite warming; I welcome it wholeheartedly. He asks a ton of questions which is refreshing because I'm having a conversation and not a one sided directive. Checking in as a new patient was quite involved; I thought I was buy/ing a car or a house. But it's to be expected, being a new patient. Then the weigh-in and blood pressure check. I gave him as much family history as I could remember. I also gave my PCP my medical records as well as my workman's compensation records. I also gave him my Covid-19 vaccination records...everyone has to wear masks in his facility no matter their vaccinated or not. Informed him about my fight against cancer as well as my Afib history'. He gave me an EKG as told me..."Yeah, you've Afib; no concerns. I will also provide my medical records from both my Oncologist and Cardiologist. I will see my PCP in 1 month for a check-up. No blood work because I recently had one back in April. Dr. Evenson is referring me to a Oncologist, Cardiologist, and Dietician. Those referrals are mailed to my house. Then I call those Specialists to make appointments. As a matter of fact, I was instructed to call within 3 days to secure an appointment to my Medical Oncologist from the day I receive those referrals in the mail, which I should receive in about 5 business days. Feels great to know that the 3 month long pause from my cancer treatments is over very, very soon. I pray that any of my diagnosis numbers have NOT raised in any iota whatsoever because of this 3 month interruption.

Lost and/or forgotten can be troublesome in one degree or another. Name changes, methodology changes, and ideology changes can become the root and cause and evil behind their splintering's. Whatever causes a MA style to become lost and/or forgotten can't always be understood and/or known...not all of the times. Sad, glad, or happy of the demise can be quite bothersome to some, and not so with others. I'm of the latter because there's nothing I can do about it. With Shindokan's closing of the SKKA, and being splintered like a tatter and old piece of wood, its original history remains in tact, yet the new history will be written by many viewpoints that will cloud Shindokan's history. Of us that are considered the keepers of its archives and the like will do whatever so that it's not lost/forgotten, but the odds don't seem to favor the odds. That's why it's up to the Student Body to keep the Shindokan flame burning bright as long as it can. but time will tell. Sometimes change isn't always a good thing, especially when the Student Body was the innocent victims of the unforeseen demise. So sad. I've far much more to say on this topic, but our own sad history is more than I wish to remember, for at least for now.

As it's said over and over...the family kicks together stays together. Starting the journey at the same time are memories that are not replaceable...priceless. Train hard and train well, each and everyone of you. Remember, the MA isn't easy, but serious practice makes it seem easier. Good luck in your MA journey, now and forever...and welcome back to the wonderful world of the MA, Zaine!! Beautiful picture; thank you for sharing it.

Sorry to hear that, Questor. Train hard and train well as often as you can. Please be safe during this hard time.

To the bold above... Yes. Yes. Albeit, those Governing Bodies tend to be on the side of profit without any other goals. There focus is on the bottom line. So, yes, Governing Bodies allow members to join, even though they're members elsewhere. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else. he will hold to the one, and despise the other" Difficult to separate the two Governing Bodies due to the possibility of conflict between the two. Allowed here, but not allowed there. Darn if you do, and darn if you don't. Governing Bodies are quite propriety across the board, of which, they don't like to share the floor with other Governing Bodies. Being stuck in the middle isn't always a very comfortable thing for the members to endure. Many Governing Bodies, like the one I was with forever and a day, the SKKA, would warn the offending student once, then pull their Hard Card for cause. as inactive. Once the offending student decided to return to the SKKA, and only the SKKA, their Hard Card would be return to the active file. One can join anywhere they want to with anyone who'll accept them. Happens day after day, however, many Governing Bodies strongly deter that act from its Student Body. Can't please some of the Governing Bodies all of the time, you can please all of Governing Bodies some of the time. but you can't please all of the Governing Bodies all of the time. Imho!!

Great posts across the board, aurik. I thank you for sharing the most recent pictures Noah, Zack, and you have forging in mind. Noah's created some pretty good pieces. Keep on forging; your pieces look good!!

Nukite has its effectiveness, however, that effectiveness wanes from practitioner to practitioner, as is with any technique. Various training tools help strengthening the various nukites. Unleashed, any nukite can cause some damage at the target. Now, on the one toe kicks. I've trained with Uechi-Ryu Karateka's, and I must say this as honest as I can...OUCH!! Hate getting tagged with it, even in a casual moment...though my leg left me and told me..."I'm out of here; hit someone else!!", as I struggled to maintain some realistic composure so that I could continue. I've ton of respect for that technique, and my answer to it is to wear a knights armor suit; that might not be enough. Personally, I've witnessed the training of the toes and I must say..."Thanks, but NO THANKS...now or never. My weak constitution will let others train their toes like a Uechi-Ryu Karateka, instead of me. My skin crawls whenever I think about using my toes in that manner.

Thank you, Patrick and Brian!! The trains back on the track...all aboard...next stop...my new PCP.

The Rage of the Page decides quite a lot no matter the subject. The MA is far from the exception, and oftentimes, it's never even close to being the exception. Gi, methodology, ideology, fluffy bunnies, and little green men are what we, as MAists, decide that which is acceptable, whether it's effective or not. Albeit, the forest can't be seen because all of the trees are blocking our view...time and time again.

3 months!! That's how long of a break away from my treatments. April 27, 2021 is when I moved to Vegas, and May 1, 2021 is when the exhaustive search for new medical insurance began, and just recently, I obtained new medical insurance. July 23, 2021 at 1:43pm...this is my first appointment with my new PCP. My PCP, being my normal doctor, is who can issue referrals to specialists. Medical Oncologist and Cardiologist are specialists. If I want to be seen by those specialists, my PCP can issue a referral order. Train's back on the right track!! I have to restart my treatments, the sooner, the better. Great thing about my PCP is that his medical office has IN-HOUSE Medical Oncologists and Cardiologists on-staff. I won't have to look very far or go very far finding those specialists. Not that I need it, but his office also offers DOT Medical Card exams...I just got a tickled pink about that for some strange reason. That's it for now. Will update hopefully very soon!! Thank you ALL from the bottom of my heart for your continued support during this fight!!

Congrats, GS718Trek; well deserved!!

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!! Everything will work out because you did after all return to the MA, and that's not a bad thing. Welcome back to the MA.

For as long as I can remember, we ALL wore white with no exceptions, except for our Soke and Dai-Soke, in which for the most part they wore white top and black bottoms, and from time to time, they'd both switch to a white bottom and a black top...on the floor...and during normal classes. Slowly, and I do mean slowly, slower than a determined and purposeful crawl, we were permitted to add black top or bottom, depending on rank. That stayed in place for quite some time. Is it mutiny to fall away from all white? Maybe; depends on a lot of precedence. To me, I could care less as to what color the gi is because we're all students of the MA, and students of the MA train to improve their MA betterment in order to become most effective. Imho!!

What Noah speaks toward is solid across the board Solo training is just that: Training. Without the solo training, there can't be any serious partner training of any degree. Kata being impractical is a demonstration of the lack of ones MA maturity. Sure, Bruce said that Kata was akin to swimming on dry land, and that's not quite accurate because even swimming on dry land is far better than not swimming at all. Training tools are only applicable if they are utilized appropriately in the way that it's meant and designed to be by anyone who takes them seriously. Kata is so often misinterpreted, even by those who've a ton of experience and knowledge. Even entertaining the possibility of kicking Kata to the curb can be hardly construed as an apology. Kata is an important training tool. Tools are particularly important, no matter the work. Tools are primarily used to put things together or to take them apart. However, just having the tools is useless if one doesn't know, and/or understand, how to properly use said tool(s) in their given and needed situation(s). Imho.

I'd just let her go; either the student wants to train or not, and if not, I've no desire to beg any student about anything. Sounds mean?? Maybe!! My energy needs to be focusing on the Student Body, the entire Student Body, the students that want to be there. I'd have a conversation or two, and if no ground has been gained, well, then thank them all, leave the door open for her return, and then show them the door...professionally, of course. It's not personal after all; it's just business.

What I've done for the most part is trade. I'll go to their dojo and then they'll come to mine, and vice versa. When that doesn't pan out, and they're not charging an arm and a leg, then I'll meet their cost.