Patrick

Sorry to hear that. I apologize if this sounds harsh at all, but as I read your post, it seemed to me that you and your wife may be taking it a little hard. "Help her work through this"? It was one test. If you and your family are healthy, you have jobs or a job, a roof over your head and food to eat, then you are fortunate and perspective is needed. In the grand scheme, it's not huge, it's one test and life is full of this. People do something good and not get recognized for it all the time. At work, at home, in their hobbies and day to day life. You either continue to do your best (for yourself, as much as for recognition), give up or something in between. So, the way to work through it is just to keep trying hard and try to learn from past experiences. There is no dispute process, but have you reached out to the instructors who graded her, and in a very pleasant manner, asked for their thoughts on what they saw or didn't see? If this one experience has put her off of the martial arts as a whole and she's asking why continue, then maybe the martial arts aren't a big passion for her, which is totally fine. As many veterans of this community will know, I am not a martial artist, but I do have things that I am passionate about. I am a professional speaker and I speak at conferences and events around the country. When you are a professional speaker, you step on stage and essentially say "here is what I know - judge me." It is an interesting experience. I have a great deal of experience in my field, so I feel confident in my knowledge and my ability to draw from that experience. That doesn't mean that every time I speak, I deliver the best talk ever or that, even if I feel I did, everyone in the room loved it or found value in it. I mean, I once had a lady come up to me RIGHT AFTER I LEFT THE STAGE and tell me that she didn't know what she was supposed to get out of my talk. I listen to all feedback, but to say it right after I left the stage... that's harsh. I'd never do that to someone. But, she did. I apologized and encouraged her to, next time, ask questions to get the answers she sought. Still, I didn't stop speaking because of that because I find it rewarding and like to share what I know. So, in all, my opinion would be to keep it in perspective and, if you are passionate about the martial arts, to continue to work hard and learn. Best of luck! Patrick

Thanks for the replies, all. Patrick

Congrats Dimorte. Patrick

Welcome aboard, shudokaratemomma. Glad to have you. Patrick

Sorry about that. For whatever reason, we had a break out game. And no we're up to 2 wins. So, it looks like we're going to be bad, but just good enough not to get a top 5 pick. We're tied for the 2nd worst record in football, but it's a 4 way tie. Not that I want us to lose. It's good to win. Even with the back to back losses, the Chiefs are only 1 game back in the West, in a three way tie for second. Could be back in first quickly. Patrick

Hello, KarateForums.com recognizes one member every month as the Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. The November 2011 selection is... xo-karate. Congratulations! Thanks, Patrick

Nominations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit them. It is greatly appreciated. The full ballots, with nominees, will be announced soon. Thanks again, Patrick

Congrats datguy! Patrick

Welcome to KF, Dimorte! Patrick

Welcome aboard, judobrah. Glad to have you. Patrick

Yeah, the Chiefs definitely flipped the switch at the right time! 4-3 now, nice. Things look good for them this week, as well, facing the 0-7 Dolphins. Heh.

Congrats to the Cardinals and their fans! Patrick

Hey all, Thanks again to everyone who has nominated thus far. We have 6 more days until nominations close. If you haven't already, please take a moment and do so! Thanks, Patrick

Welcome back, Lupin1. Patrick

Good luck, datguy! Patrick

Welcome Scott. Patrick

Welcome aboard, Brutus. Patrick

Yeah, no harm in asking here at all. Thanks for doing so. Patrick

Thank you to those who have already nominated! If you haven't, I would greatly appreciate if you considered doing so. Thanks, Patrick

Welcome aboard, Mr. Wilson. Glad to have you. Patrick

Hello, Welcome to the tenth annual KarateForums.com Awards. Through these awards, we recognize just a few of the individuals who have made outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com in the past year. Over the last nine years, we have honored 32 different members and that number will surely grow this year. These awards take into consideration all community activity between October 19, 2010 and October 18, 2011. Members must be nominated based upon their activity in this period and articles nominated for Article of the Year must have been published in this span. To nominate, you must have a KarateForums.com account and must have made at least 25 posts on or before October 18, 2011 (Eastern Time). There are just three guidelines to keep in mind when nominating: 1. Only ONE member or article can be nominated for EACH award. In other words, you cannot nominate the entire staff for Staff Member of the Year. You have to pick one person. One person can be nominated for more than one award, however. 2. You cannot nominate yourself or an article that you wrote for any of the awards. 3. Do not attempt to artificially inflate our nomination totals in any way. This includes but is not limited to trading nominations, encouraging people to nominate indiscriminately (publicly or privately), mass mailing/posting and any other behavior that could lead to results being artificially skewed. Individuals found to be participating in these activities will be disqualified from nomination in any category. Please note that you do not have to nominate for every category. You can nominate for as many or as few as you would like - please go for as many as you feel comfortable with. The more valid nominations that we receive, the better! From these nominations, the ballot for each award will be chosen, consisting of the top 4 nominees, plus ties. Through the poll system available on these forums, you will be able to vote for the winners! Here are this year's categories: 1. Member of the Year This award is intended to acknowledge the non-staff member who you feel best exemplifies the qualities that KarateForums.com puts a premium on. Knowledge is valuable, but most valuable is a kind and helpful nature. You don't need to be a martial arts expert to be nominated for this award - you need to be someone who is kind and who shares what they know in a productive fashion that helps others. Current staff members (Sempais, Senseis and Patrick) cannot be nominated for this award. 2. New Member of the Year Basically, this award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this one is strictly for members that registered on or between the dates of October 19, 2010 and July 18, 2011. Current staff members (Sempais, Senseis and Patrick) cannot be nominated for this award. 3. Community Spirit Award This award should go to a person whom you feel has a passion for this community. A person who is all about the home team - in this case, KarateForums.com. Regular members and staff members (except Patrick) can be nominated for this award. 4. Staff Member of the Year Basically, this award is the same as the Member of the Year award, except that this award is for current staff members only (except Patrick). Regular members cannot be nominated. If you are unsure of who is on staff, please visit http://www.karateforums.com/staff.php for a complete listing. 5. Funniest Member of the Year Humor is an important aspect of the forums and this award recognizes the member who has brought a smile to your face many times. This person should have a good, clean sense of humor. Regular members and staff members (except Patrick) can be nominated for this award. 6. Article of the Year This award distinguishes your favorite article that was published in the KarateForums.com Articles section on or between October 19, 2010 and October 18, 2011. Whether the article enlightened or inspired you, this is the place to recognize it. Here are the articles that are eligible for nomination: Capoeira Explained by JusticeZero Psychology Lesson: Milgram, Zimbardo and Karate by joesteph Bruce Lee's Three Stages of Cultivation by bushido_man96 Evaluating My Taekwondo School by bushido_man96 Managing Behavior in Children's Martial Arts Training by Rateh The Composition of Taekwon-Do by DWx So, that's all there is to it. Please nominate. You will find a blank ballot at the bottom of this message that you can copy and paste. We need as many valid nominations as possible! You nominate by sending a private message through this link: http://www.karateforums.com/privmsg.php?mode=post&u=2715 - nominations will be closed on November 2, 2011 at 9 PM ET. Please do not post your nominations on this, or any thread. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to private message me or reply to this thread. Thank you for reading and for visiting KarateForums.com. Your participation in these awards is a key ingredient to what makes them great and meaningful. Here is the ballot that you can use:

I have a small baseball bat, a water bottle with a filter built in and a flashlight that you can crank and that doesn't need batteries. I'm set!

Happy Birthday Bob (sensei8)! Hope that you had a great day. Thank you for all of your great contributions to the community. Sincerely, Patrick

Thank you for the submission, Danielle. Patrick