Preparing for Spring and Karate

Since experiencing the relief of finishing my blue belt test, I have to admit that I felt a bit of a letdown and dropped the ball completely by sitting back and doing nothing, but at class last night, I felt that it was a bit misguided on my part. Not unlike going to school for me, where life was really about just passing the time in between tests, when in fact learning should be a lifetime endeavor, filled with magic and reward. I.e., it shouldn't be about the end result, but about the journey, and rather than wait and sweat over intermittent milestones like exams, immerse yourself in the process and celebrate each and every day, especially when you're learning.

That's why we homeschool.

In all honesty, I don't think I'm approaching karate like that, it's just that after a particularly brutal week, it was nice to take a break. But like our sensei said last night, when you get a new belt, it is the end of one journey and the beginning of another. Our class was a little different last night in that it was led by the Grand Master, as Chip had family obligations to attend to, and it was a fun class, though we always miss him. As JH commented on, we have a good core group of people in the class who are serious about learning and make the experience rewarding and enjoyable. I feel lucky to be in there with them.

I also had a chance to bond a little with JH, and he's such an interesting person once you scratch below the surface. So many layers to the guy, besides that fact that he's a 5th degree black belt who could kill you with his pinkie nail.

The weather is getting into that crazy Spring state of indecision, with wide fluctuations from warm to cool. It makes life complicated because we tend to get that freeze-thaw thing going, making travel difficult, even for a real-man in training. Needless to say, it messes with the skiing conditions, and our time in paradise is clearly coming to an end, so we'll have to make the most of it while we can. I think there's still a good month to go, but you never know. It could go either way, so we won't fret over the future and we'll just live in the moment and enjoy what we can.

Still have to contact MJ about wood, and straighten out the our propane for the end of the season. Got another contact for log length wood from PD, but that would require me to get a chainsaw, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.