sensei8

Welcome to KF, DouweterHorst; glad that you are here!!

Thank you, Wado Heretic; means the world to me!!

I've just been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. What's next?? CT Scan on August 26, 2020 and follow-up on August 28, 2020; Bone Scan appointment hasn't been set as of yet, but should be quite soon because these scans take priority. CT Scans take about 30-60 minutes, whereas, a Bone Scans can last 1-3 hours...oh boy. These scans determine Stages and if said cancer has spread; and it's aggressive or not. Off these scans, treatments are entertained. I'm praying for local treatments and not systemic treatments. At my last blood work, my PSA was at 29. My Gleason Score, as of my biopsy, is a 9...what the Gleason Score indicates, well, I've no idea if that score is promising or not; I've submitted that exact question to my Urologist through his portal. Here's what I know: 1) I have Prostate Cancer 2) I need a CT Scan 3) I need a Bone Scan 4) I'm at High Risk for the cancer spreading outside of the prostate Sad thing is that there's no cancer history in my family, on either side!! Bad enough I have Afib, but now this as well...discouraging as all get out. Doctor told me yesterday that of all of the cancers, Prostate is the best to have, with seems odd to say. Life expectancy is long term, even in Stage 4. Of course, other parameters are taken into consideration. Medical treatments and all have gone a long way, and in short, the medical field has gotten far better at treating Prostate Cancer. Will this affect my MA training and teaching?? For now, no!! Hard to tell because I've not started any treatment as of yet. If the treatment proves to be more tasking on me, then I'll decide options. Life expectancy at this moment is to early to predict. No matter how long I might have, I'm a fighter, and I will fight!! I might lose a battle or two, but I will win this war!! Please, men, allow me this time to encourage you to do regular blood work to determine your PSA, but of course, speak with your doctor, and not me. This fight is in God's hand!!

Hey, Joe92, I know you live in Texas, for grins and giggles, I live in Houston, TX.

I've no idea how, if at all, a lottery windfall would affect my MA training. After all, I'm 62 years old, of which I've trained in the MA ever since 1964---55 years; I've no MA bucket list for me to consider anymore.

You can now enjoy Last Dance on Netflix, as well.

Solid post!! I've pushed mine back to October 5th, even that depends on what our Governor decides on September 30th. Virtual classes will have to suffice until then.

Solid post!!

Thank you, Danielle; she certainly was, thanks to some of the other mom's who encouraged mom to become far more involved in my training across the board. Mom had a rocky start; her and Sensei were estranged with each other right from the start, always bumping heads.

Congrats on being selelcted MOM for the 3rd time, Wado Heretic; well deserved!!

You can watch far worse MA movies than the Ip Man movies; some [ip Man movies] you have to read while watching and others, you don't. Ip Man 4 you get both.

In a way, you've already been doing that, Brian. Like here... https://www.karateforums.com/the-martial-artists-training-log-vt30246.html

Ah, those are some names! I've still got some of my TKD Times magazines, too. I can't bring myself to get rid of any of them, either!Yeah, to get rid of them is like getting rid of your MA soul. Perhaps that's about the only thing that might label me a hoarder of MA magazines.

I've no specificality towards any one particular fighting style whatsoever. Inspite of being raised in the bare-knuckle knock-down excitements that was Shindokan, I'm quite ecelectic whenever it comes to fighting/sparring/Kumite/etc; the more raw and in-your-face the much more I'm drawn into it. I've no desire to pick a one or two or plethora fighting type because that limits me across the board. I'm comfortable on the floor no matter what stands before me. I'm quite fortunate to have been taught by two exceptional Okinawan Sensei's, Soke Saitou and Dai-Soke Takahashi because they liked fighting hard and raw with one another with no-holds barred; the rougher and rawer, the better for them. To watch them go at each other, you'd swear that they hated each other and were trying to kill one another. They held back nothing and apologized for nothing. Nothing was prohibited...nothing!! That being said, that's exactly how Greg Forsythe and I went at each other on the floor, nothing was prohibited, and whenever Soke and/or Dai-Soke would observe Greg and me fighting one another, they would just shine an agreeing smile at is both; they recognized themselves by observing us trying to tear each other apart. I could only do that type of fighting with Greg because the other Senior Ranks wanted nothing to do with that for some unknown reason(s), even though I've my own as to why. Greg and I did some I'm-gonna-kill-you type of fighting sessions over many years with Dai-Soke, and our eyes were opened wide as to things of effectiveness, that one can't receive by just engaging in Jiyu Kumite because Jiyu Kumite is limited compared to what Soke and Dai-Soke engaged in with each other, and the same can be fairly said the same for what Greg and I engaged in. Were we out of control?? With that type of sparring?? No!! Why?? The streets are unlimited and unforgiving being that if you're timid, you're already going to be eaten alive unmercifully. As cruel and barbaric as it might seem, oftentimes, kill or be killed is the way of the jungle. So, how I was taught and brought up on the floor with Soke and Dai-Soke was very beneficial for me in my MA journey. Nonetheless, as a CI, I'm gentle, yet aggressive towards my Student Body, yet as raw as I believe a student can take, therefore, their learning curve is challenged, and that too is beneficial for them. As far as the poll here, perhaps I selected the very last choice, and explained that in this post of mine. I looked over the list, and I couldn't select any particular one choice because as I've explained here, therefore, all of the above might better describe my preference within this topic.

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

I was thinking about this, and this was exactly my point but I didn't articulate it well in my original post - can some random dude really just open a dojo and claim to be a "new martial art" or "a karate school" or "a kempo school" or a "taekwondo school" when in reality it has no affiliation to any club or organization out there and/or its kata/forms are all made up? Sure, there's no reason why not; that's the beauty of Business 101 and "Who Moved My Cheese?". Business and the inevitable change allow this to happen, even at the most unexpected times.

Meijin Dojo Gi is priced from $47 to $67, depending on size. It's a very durable Gi across the board. Many Okinawan Masters wear Meijin Gi's, including the Meijin Dojo Gi. As a CI of my own dojo and owning a MA supply store inside of my dojo, I can vouch for the Meijin brand across the board both personally and professionally, as well as many other Gi brands. I've no experience with Mugen/KI, or Tokon keiko-gi at all.

That Gi is 8 ounces!! A very nice and durable Gi!! Many well known Okinawan Masters wear Meijin Gi's, including Meijin Dojo Gi. Like scohen0300, I've several Meijin Gi's personally myself, if not all of them, several times over. Now, having a MA supply store inside my dojo, I stock a wide variety of different brands of Gi's in all sizes and weights and colors, and not just for Karate. So, Meijin is a great Gi overall, and as the CI of my own dojo, I can personally vouch for them. Nonetheless, I can also vouch for the various other Gi brands personally, and not just professionally.

Perhaps you meant Jason Scott Lee, and not Brandon Lee, who starred and portrayed Bruce Lee in Dragon. I thought that Jason's portrayal of Bruce was a betrayal because of his overreaching throughout Dragon. For me, not one actor has ever done justice to Bruce in any shape, way, and/or form. Albeit, no one can fill in Bruce's shoes across the board, and to attempt to do so will always fall way short of its mark. Good thing about the portray of Bruce in Ip Man 4 was that Bruce wasn't caused to save the day, and facts about Bruce was correct. For example, Bruce upsetting the local martial arts community in San Francisco by opening a Wing Chun school, teaching non-Chinese people martial arts and writing an English-language book on martial arts. In short, I'm thankful that Bruce was purposefully underrepresented because this movie was about the life of Ip Man, and not about Bruce Lee. To the credits of the director Wilson Yip and producer Raymond Wong, Ip Man 4: The Finale was a movie centralized about the final 8 years of life of Ip Man, and not about Bruce Lee. Whereas, Bruce Lee was respectfully in a role as one that's mentioned about, and not the primary subject of this movie. Imho.

Best?!? That answer will vary from person to person. For me, Century MA Supply has a lot of quality gi's under $100, so does Asian World of Martial Arts (AWMA). Train hard and train well.

Solid post!! I've a ton of experience of having gone through the politics of a Governing Body, but because it being a very sore subject with me, I'll refrain from commenting on this topic, for the moment. Sorry.

I've taken notes of myself ever since I was a SanKyu and up to the passing of my own Sensei; I stopped taking notes ever since. Before that, my mom wrote a kind of diary type during classes ever since I was a HachiKyu, at the advise of a fellow dojo mom. The flare of mom's notes versus my notes are a stark difference. Mom, being a RN, wrote quite a lot of various reports as a Charge RN. Mom loved felt tip pens of various colors, depending on my belt color or RED for areas I was struggling with or GREEN for any and all Testing Cycles and if a line was drawn through the final score, that was a fail, where a pass score was left alone or BLACK for additional notes that she garnered from either Sensei and/or one of my Sempai's. Neat and in a librarian type of a way, even with a content. All done on a spiral notebook, the thicker the better with no wasted paper, and on each side of any page. Mom was quite detail in her note writing, which never surprises me, even now, and mom's been gone for 25 years. I went 3 times a week, but a RokuKyu, I went 5 days a week, unless I was either sick or grounded or baseball season. So, mom wrote and wrote. So did I, when I took over the note writings, which mom suggested so that if I did the note writings, I'd take ownership and accountability on and off the floor, and you know what? She was right!! Have to own your own MA journey on and off the floor and the page. Now my notes were done on thicker spiral notebooks too, on each side of each page too. However, I used a ink pen, blue or black, whichever color ink pen I could find, and done after class while that class was fresh in my mind. But mom was writing notes while class was going on. Now, I would write the final score of each and every Testing Cycle with a RED ink pen, and a FAIL was circled. Between mom and me, I have a lot of FAIL scores than PASS scores. I'd note class date, times, and who was teaching said class, as well as type of class. I'd note the same for any seminars that were only held at our Hombu, but not when I attended seminars outside of the Hombu. I wasn't as detail as mom, but to suffice it, I wasn't lackadaisical in my note taking either; I wrote down what I could remember right at the end of each class, especially whatever Sensei emphasize himself or if a Sempai pulled me aside to correct me, and so on and so forth. Each Rank had its own notebook as well as volumes because, you can't put many, if any, Dan classes all in one notebook, not possible because we're talking about years and years between Dan Ranks. Yes, I keep them in my office at the dojo, and over the many years, I've allowed students to peruse through them as a way to encourage my students to take notes of their MA journey; after all, if I show the I took notes for decades, then they'll possibly do the same thing. No, no student and the like ever took my notebooks out of my sight let alone out of my dojo. Never tried to put that all on a computer because I'm just not that type of person; the notebooks, especially the ones done by my mom, hold a ton of memories that I can see as a turn page after page. Beside taping myself, note taking was the smartest training aide I ever had. Hopefully this answers your question, even though my answer is a general one.

Welcome to KF, Joe92; glad that you're here!!

Yeah, I was surprised myself, but not to much. Maybe it's Volume #1; hopefully a Volume #2, if it's being produced, will list an Okinawan Founder(s). I do love Spartacus Maximus list of Okinawan Founders.

Welcome to KF, Baka718; glad that you're here!!