It's working

The Davis Bay Karate Club is now one, whole class old.

There are five members. Today being Saturday it's hard for everyone to attend, so our inaugural class contained only myself with two students.

Both seem really happy to be training again. I was glad to be there, too.

The first goal is to get everybody ready for testing, as all of my students except one are overdue. This is also why I didn't try and recruit any new beginners. That would divert attention and time away from the old timers' needs. If any new folks find their way to us they will be welcomed, but I'm not out searching them out.

Once the ranks are stabilized at an appropriate level, we might decide as a group if we want beginners in May or June. It doesn't matter to me either way. We are able to pay our bills, and that's all that matters money wise.

I'd be just as happy holding off and doing a big push for new people in September. The fall seems to be when recruiting for activities is the most productive.

Maybe we should just stay focused. Three of the club's students should have earned their Green Belts by summer. The fourth is already a Brown Belt, and has been off for a decade or so. She won't be testing anytime soon. She'll likely be content shaking off the rust for a while.

A club with an old Black Belt, a Brown Belt, and three Green Belts would be a solid core to support a batch of beginners in September.

I don't think a club in Davis Bay will ever get very large. People where I live just don't seem willing to travel far for their activities. Davis Bay is a tiny place. A few might come from as far as Sechelt.

All we need is a few.

Saturday

When I arrived at the hall for Jiu-Jitsu, things seemed pretty dead. Once inside, I was relieved. The instructor was already there, and one other White Belt student. I've been to Saturday morning classes with less.

I got changed, and we set up the mats. Two more White Belts turned up. We now had more students than I've ever seen on a Saturday.

We rolled through all the drills and had an excellent class. Afterwards, the instructor asked me to help him get ready for a Hapkido exam. He wanted to practise his test techniques, and needed somebody who could throw kicks at him.

Then it was off to buy printer ink, smoked almonds, and to drive home.

Best Saturday Reflex Development class ever.

Pressure

My date is May 10th. That's when I'll qualify to start my Blue Belt test. I will have completed all the mandatory Combatives classes. One also must have completed 12 Reflex classes. I will have done 18.

As I understand it, the candidate performs one or two of the 5 exam sections per week. Each attempt is videoed. If all is fine, these recordings are saved until the entire sequence is complete. Call it a minimum of three weeks.

During those three weeks, one continues to train in the regular classes, and therefore continues to improve. Normally, the videoing is done on Saturdays.

Conceivably it will all be completed and uploaded to HQ by the end of May. This will save me all of June for any do-overs.

I have no idea how long it takes for HQ to grade the exam videos. It doesn't matter when I find out my results, really.

I just don't want to go away for the summer with the task incomplete. I won't be training much for those two months. Starting up again in September would make me take at least a month to freshen up everything before testing. I don't want to do that. I want it done now.

If I get the test finished, and if I pass, I'll earn a Blue Belt. This means that although I will still be welcome in the 3 weekly classes I'm in now, I'll be eligible to attend 3 higher-level sessions per week.

Once I'm there, I'll be happy.

My fanatical pressure to rush can end.

iPad

I've been a tech guy since 1980, when I got my first computer.

There have been a string of desktops and laptops since then. More recently netbooks have joined the mix, and other newer types of devices.

This year I got my lovely wife an iPhone4S, and we ditched our landline altogether.

Today I hooked an Apple TV onto our great, big 50 inch screen. They've finally gone fully high def.

I keep checking on my other new purchase to see if it's shipped yet.

I'm waiting for my new iPad. It's kind of silly, as I have one of the two-year-old models. The new one is supposed to be fabulous. My wife will be inheriting the old one.

Can't wait, but it's still in China.

Old?

Back at it in Jiu-Jitsu. Tonight I had a week of rust to work off, which really isn't anything.

There were only about ten people present, which is less than usual. I got to work with a few of the folks I don't usually get partnered with.

The instructor chatted with me a bit about my new Karate Club. He is very supportive and sees this as a plus and not as competition. I agree, but sometimes people get funny ideas.

I have a private lesson booked for tomorrow to polish stuff up. I plan on one of these sessions weekly for a while. I have my eye on starting my test in the middle of May.

I've also noticed something about people my age. I cannot imagine them doing Jiu-Jitsu training without getting badly hurt. I am able to roll around with the young folks. I am careful, but even so. I attribute this to my long-time Karate training and my wrestling experience. I also run and bike a lot. I'd claim it is keeping me magically young, but that's not what I see in the mirror. All I see in there is a bald, wrinkly, devilishly-handsome old dude.

I wonder if I've jinxed myself now and will get broken next class.

Zippy

All martial arts can be divided into two groups, depending on movement.

There are the fast steppers, and the shufflers. I don't mean this as an insult.

Boxers are shufflers. Two guys walk up to each other and smack. From out-of-range to in-range is a matter of inches. They don't run or sprint. They shuffle.

Judo is like that, too. Two guys walk up, and grab each other. They then push and pull and throw each other about. Greco-Roman wrestling is the same.

Freestyle wrestling can be different. They often like to maintain a little more distance and then explode forward for a takedown. Jiu-Jitsu also has zip-forward movement.

Most others are variations on these two basic types.

A major exception is old-style Japanese Karate. Karate fighters like to stay well outside of any attack range. To then launch their own attack they surge forward rapidly covering several meters of distance in an instant. After launching a strike or two or three they rapidly retreat out of range.

This is how they fight in their tournaments, and in sparring training. When a Karate guy fights in mma, the commentators always go on and on about their speed and amazing footwork.

This was key to Lyoto Machida's 16-0 record as the Light Heavyweight UFC Champion. He is a good fighter, but not great. In his three fights since then he has only won once.

George St. Pierre might just be the best fighter ever in the UFC. He is also a Karate guy, but is not so obvious about it. He usually fights inches outside of his opponent's danger zone, moving in and out quickly to deliver boxing-like attacks. Karate movement with boxing strikes.

He goes in and out with hands held high for defense. Machida keeps his too low for safety. He also uses his movement mostly as a defensive measure, whilst St. Pierre uses it to press forward.

George St. Pierre is currently the UFC Welterweight Champion. His record is 22-2, and hasn't lost since 2007. He has also beaten both the guys who defeated him in rematches.

There are lots of people who move well. It is clearly a major part of the game. I can't think of a single current mma champion who is a shuffler. None as good as the two examples I've given.

It's funny. People clearly recognize how important movement is. They go to boxing coaches to improve hand skills, wrestling coaches to practice takedowns, and Jiu-Jitsu schools to work on submissions. Never heard of any going to a Karate dojo to work on distance and movement.

They should.

Back at 'er

A week of holiday known as spring break is over.

It was the first Monday back at work. We've been involved in a big labour dispute with the government, which is on hold for a while. As a result, the vice principal dropped by to let me know I had supervision duty at lunch. That is one of the things we've not been doing. Now we are.

It was also a very rainy Monday. I did the bike ride anyhow, but it's plenty moist.

I also have a heavy cold to help me celebrate being back at work. My system is full of cold drugs to keep my nose dry.

The actual teaching part of the day has been quite pleasant. The kids seemed refreshed. This doesn't always happen after a break, but it did this time. The class time has been a breeze.

If it wasn't for the supervision, rain, and my virus everything would be peachy.

Weak week

I haven't been running too well this week.

The plan for spring break was to run a total of 40km. I wasn't doing too badly until mid week. I went and got a really nasty cold and that was it.

The whole season has been going that way. Since the start of the year I've run 91.5km and biked 329km.

Last year by this time I had run 145km and biked 509km. This year I'm quite a bit behind. It's supposed to rain hard tomorrow, and with my cold I won't be on the bike again.

Do I feel all weak and slothlike and discouraged? Not at all.

Last year I wasn't going to Jiu-Jitsu three times a weak. I think my two years are similar in total physical effort.

I can see lots of running-shoe kilometres coming this summer, too. We have no holidays arranged that will exclude running time and opportunities. We'll even be biking in some of the ports during our cruise.

Likely I will end the year somewhat behind last year's total. I can live with that.

Nasty

I love changing my mind when I'm wrong.

I've always enjoyed watching mma fights but have always assumed they were spectacularly dangerous. I also enjoy boxing, and considered it to be by far the safer of the two sports.

Strangely, mma fights continue to produce less major injuries than boxing. How can this be? It just doesn't make sense.

Finally, I decided to look into it. The big danger is from striking. Chokes produce momentary unconsciousness, and armbar might cause a broken bone but not a brain injury. Strikes can kill, or lead to dementia pugilistica later in life.

Statistics don't lie. I looked up some numbers on one of my favourite UFC champions, George St. Pierre. He is known as a well-rounded fighter with a lean towards striking. A Compustrike record produced at the end of 2010 it included data from his 13 previous fights.

On average, he landed one standing arm strike every 17 seconds and one standing leg strike every 27 seconds. When on the ground he landed some kind of hit every 6 seconds.

In a full 25 minute title fight, we can assume his opponent will be hit by 91 punches, 56 kicks, and 248 grounded whacks.

That's a lot of impact.

But if we're looking for brain injury, most of those kicks can be discounted. Sometimes a head kick works spectacularly but that's quite rare. Most of the hits are to the body or the legs.

Most of the 248 grounded strikes also can be discounted. Many are to the body. Of the head shots, most are unable to generate much power due to the striker's limited mobility. Again, there are spectacular exceptions.

The most brain damage comes from the standing arm strikes.

Now let's look at boxing stats. The record ever for punches landed in a fight is 620. This is held by Troy Dorsey in a 12 round match. That's one successfully landed strike every 3 1/2 seconds for 36 minutes.

That's a lot of damage over a long period of time.

Of course, this is exceptional, but it does show a trend. It shows where the danger lies.

I recently did a mma-watching marathon. Afterwards, I watched a bit of boxing. The boxers always stand quite close together and whump away. There is defense, and blocking, and movement, but it's minimal. Boxers routinely exchange blows. MMA guys usually don't.

MMA fighters often move out of range. They often clinch. They take each other to the ground.

But, put my opinions aside. Back to the facts. There have been no fatalities in mma. It is quite rare that a fighter leaves the ring on a stretcher. They just take fewer shots to the head.

But it sure looks deadly.

Week back

Spent Spring Break visiting with family in Victoria. Now we are home, and it's going to be a busy martial-arts week.

It starts on Tuesday with Jiu-Jitsu. My normal week is three classes. I am adding a private lesson on Wednesday to make up for some of the training I missed while in Victoria.

Saturday is the start of my new Karate Club in Davis Bay. That brings the total to 5 martial arts classes.

I will get Monday and Friday off.

For a guy who loves his recliner-chair evenings I sure do a lot of other stuff.

The coolest day will be Saturday. In the morning I have Jiu-Jitsu from 9-10, and later from 3:30-5 it's Karate. I wonder if there will be time in between for a jolly lunch out.

Pad

Being a geek has its challenges.

The new iPad went on sale today. Can't get one where I live, and I was at work anyway.

Had a friend in a city who was waiting in line in the early morning offer to get me one. That would mean I would have one, but that it would be 500km away.

How do I get one into my hands? Well, we'll be in Victoria for a few days soon. Perhaps I can just walk in and pick one up.

Fat chance. They'll be sold out.

I could order one from Apple. That should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

The short answer is that I can't get one faster than that. Would I like one sooner? Yes. Can I wait a few weeks? Yes, again.

No real rush.

Sweet September

Helen and I used to do vacations during the week of Spring Break. They were lovely, but not really cost effective. We only have so many holiday dollars to spend, and can get more bang for our buck by doing our travelling in the summer.

Instead of going for a week, we for longer periods.

We have been summer travellers.

Now that his changing again. After this summer I will be entering my last year before retirement. The following summer we won't travel much at all, will and move our holiday to September.

Travel in September is a dream to this old teacher. Rates drop, and crowds vanish. It has long been Helen's dream to head out on the first day of the school year. They go back to work and we go play.

We will do it.

I don't know where we will go that first September.

It could be California. That is always a trip we enjoy. We have driven there many times. I'll be ready to visit San Francisco, and the LA area. Tacking on Las Vegas works nicely, too.

Maybe it will be Florida. Just today Helen said she loves Florida and whenever we go there she feels that she could live there. That's quite an endorsement. I like the feel of Miami Beach a lot, and love Disneyworld in Central Florida.

Maybe something more exotic. We've only barely scratched the surface of Europe. I've always wanted to do it properly.

Or somewhere else.

Season

It's going to be a pretty concentrated martial arts season around here.

Next Saturday I'm off to watch part of the Canadian Karate Championship. Top notch competition.

Then I'm starting a new Karate club up on at the very end of March.

In the middle of May I start the month-long process of testing for a Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt.

At the end of May I will be attending a seminar given by Sakurai Sensei and Oishi Sensei. Sakurai Sensei is by far the best instructor I've ever seen, and Oishi Sensei is the just-retired head of the most successful University Karate program ever.

Once summer hits, my Karate club will be shutting down for a bit, and I will be rarely able to train in Jiu-Jitsu. I will be able to train with the University of Victoria Karate Club and with the Victoria Judo Club quite a bit.

...and I get to go on a cruise.

Memory

I'm feeling really good about my Jiu-Jitsu progress right now.

I continue to train hard and attend every class I can. There is one change I've made that seems small, but really isn't.

At my high school I've got my students doing 30-day Challenges. They pick something and do it at home every day for a month. Some exercise, some draw, some take photos, and some walk to school. They can pick almost anything.

I am also doing a 30-day Challenge. Every day I study for my Jiu-Jitsu exam. I go over the lists of testing techniques, and review the sample videos. It is making a huge difference.

At today's class I knew everything we were drilling in. The people I was training with wasted no time looking up the sequence, as I already knew it. Less time wasted.

I also find that I can concentrate on improving the actual techniques when I'm not trying to figure out what is going on. When one memorizes the test, one also memorizes all the technique clues and tricky bits.

I highly recommend it.

Bay

I bet I'm considered a traitor.



I am about to start up a new Karate club in the small community of Davis Bay. That's about 10km from the gym where the West Sechelt group trains. About a year and a half ago I helped get that group started, and was the instructor for several months. One of the other Black Belts who always wanted to be a Sensei took it over with my blessing.

Since then, my schedule has changed so much that I find myself rarely able to attend any of their classes. I've also been having thoughts about teaching a less body-stressful version of Karate.

I've finally decided to take the plunge and do it.

It looks like there are already about half a dozen people ready to become members.

All are former Karate people.

Some were my students over a decade ago. They seem to both want me as their teacher, and to do my gentler Karate. All have injuries and such.

Some were members of the West Sechelt club. Some were there when I was the instructor, and never successfully made the transition to the other instructor. Having a Sensei can be a very personal thing. I guess I fit them, and the other instructor didn't. All had quit training until they heard of my new club, and are eager to get started again.

I have no intention of trying to lure current members from the other club. Nothing would make me happier than if they continue for many years with a healthy enrolment of students.

I do not believe in the zero-sum concept of Karate club membership. That is the mistaken belief that there are only so many students to go around. My club is already proof in the fallacy of that theory. I will have half a dozen students. If I do not set up a club to handle them, none will seek out and train in another club. In effect, I have created a club without harming any existing group. Karate around here is up by six, and no club is down in membership.

However, I will not refuse to accept members from other clubs. I will welcome everybody who wants to train with me. I believe people should make up their own minds about things like that. If any of my students choose to go elsewhere, they will do so with my blessing and encouragement.

I am getting great support from the martial arts community. I notified the head of the JKA in the province, and I sense he would be happy to drop by and teach a session. The Sensei at the local Shitu-Ryu style Karate club is a Facebook friend, and also wants to come and visit. One of the Jiu-Jitsu instructors is a facebook friend and also wants to come by. I am also going to try and get a local 5th Dan to visit once in a while.

I’m pretty happy about how things are going, and they haven’t even started.

Test season

Spring Break is great. It's a chance to connect with family, but it does scramble up my Jiu-Jitsu progress. This is not a complaint, just a statement.

Over the time of the break, the club will be doing two evening combatives classes and two Saturday reflex classes.

If the attendance is good, they'll roll on through combatives classes 19 and 20. I've already done an extra #20, and I'll make up the missed session with a private lesson when I get back.

It attendance is weak, they won't push on but will do other training. It that case I won't be behind at all.

I'm still on track to test for Blue Belt starting in mid-May.

It will be a season of martial arts tests.

I should have a bunch of my Karate students grading at the end of April, and more tests at the end of June.

If everything goes well, that should be the end of exams until Christmas time.

Intense

Three weeks until the launch of the Davis Bay Karate Club. I will be pretty worked up about it by then. Not a minute of class will be wasted, as I want my old hands to progress two ranks in only a few months. I also want them to be motivated, and to love the experience.

Piece of cake.

Every class will start with basic technique. They all know the basics, so I don't teach right off the bat. They will do and I will watch. If they are correct, we move to the next technique. If not, I address the problem, and they drill in the correction. When the weakness is corrected, we move to the next.

We don't leave basics until either they complete the testing techniques to my satisfaction, or we run out of time.

We will work on Kata after the basics are done. It will be as precise as basics time was. We do not move on until the standard is test-ready, or we run out of time.

After Kata it will be Kumite, done to the same standard.

Some days we may not get to all three. Some days we will complete things before the final bell rings. On days like that I will have other activities ready to go.

I will keep notes on each student, their weaknesses and strengths. This will help me in planning outside of class time. It will also help me decide when each will test.

September will be different. The returning and new students will all 3.5 months to get ready for testing. I can go back to a more normal tempo. Some days will seem like I've described. Others might focus on tournament activities, or self-defense, or any of many other types of lesson.

Looking over the spreadsheet has been showing me that we might be able to afford another evening class on Wednesdays sometime. This will make progress much better for people who can't attend on both Saturday and Monday.

I've already been asked about kids classes. I'll call, "maybe" on that. I find that a lot more like work.

This is supposed to be fun, not work.

Bruce Lee?

I hate people who think it's a good idea to follow what they think was Bruce Lee's philosophy. Let's see. He trained in Wing Chung for five years as a teenager in Hong Kong. After that he did his own thing until he died at age 32.

He had a total of 19 years in martial arts.

I'd rather follow people I find more impressive. Helio Gracie also started training as a young lad. He went on to modify what he learned into a new version. His art has spread around the world and is now one of the premier in terms of combat effectiveness. He continued to teach and refine his art until his death at age 95.

Which of these two impresses me more? It isn't even a contest.

What frustrates me the most is people who want to follow Lee's thinking believe it means that an unqualified person should pick and choose what makes sense to them. That's like saying a person who has never taken a science course, should figure out physics.

Lee had a base in Wing Chung. He did not just invent things, or gather from other arts willy-nilly.

Instead of the idea, "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it," why not follow, "Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there." Lee said both.

Or maybe just think it through. Martial arts are not a collection of tricks. Each art is quite complete unto itself. Each has been developed by true experts, who have dedicated collectively hundreds of years to fine tuning the art. You are going to show up, knowing nothing, and are going to design your own.

Feel insulted? Don't be. Think of professional football players. Can somebody walk in off the street and train them self into the NFL. Do Olympic gymnasts train themselves to a gold medal?

There are real experts in martial arts. The trick can be to avoid fakes, and from amongst the real ones find a good teacher.

Pay your dues, and learn your basics. Spend 5 years or so and get a foundation. If you want a broader base than one art seems to be giving you, find another and train in it, too. I said, too, not instead.

See how the top mma fighters do it. The best start with one area of expertise, and later add in the others. George St. Pierre started in Karate, and then added in the other parts of mma. Many start with significant wrestling or Jiu-Jitsu backgrounds, and branch from there.

Even those few who started in mma gyms from day one learned it as a coherent art. Never yet seen one who has invented their own.

Walk before you can run.

My Kinda Fun

The Japan Karate Association is the largest single-style martial arts group in the world.

My new club will be a teensy branch of that massive body. In this province we will be one of seven dojos.

The style is Shotokan. In Japan it is by far the most practised style. It is taught to millions of public school kids, and has become a major part of the university system.

It is a beautiful art. If it were a part of the dance world, it would be ballet. Tall posture, long movements, and extreme precision. No tutus, though.

We wear white, bound with snazzy belts. The colour denotes the rank. Mine is boring old black.

Now that I'll be called Sensei again I'll stop trying to blend in with the other Black Belts. I shall put my shiny rookie belt aside, and wear my old beat up one. A significant percentage of the black has worn away to frazzles.

My club will emphasize precise Shotokan appropriate to the person's physical condition. Several of us are not spring chickens, and some have injuries that would not fare well in a traditional class. We shall modify, and move more slowly, but also with more precision.

We will welcome outsiders, and I will encourage students to train outside of Shotokan if they wish. I will support weapons training, and tournament participation for those so inclined.

I have some coloured belts who need to test soon, and will we address that. There will also be a Brown Belt who has been way for years. She has a health issue or two, and I'm sure she will be content for a while to work on recovering her skills. We will address this, too.

Beginners are critical to any healthy club, but they normally throw a monkey wrench into the progress of their seniors. I think I've figured out ways around this. We might have none, but if we do we shall handle it. I certainly want new people to come and feel welcome.

It should be fun.

Rank correction

I've been thinking about the students that I know will be joining my new Karate Club.

All of those who have trained recently have one similar characteristic. They all hold rank below what they should.

One has been a Karate person for about a year, one a few months less than that, and another a few months more.

They should be wearing belts from Green to Blue. None are.

They do have rough spots I'd like to polish up. They all have well above average potential. I plan on pushing them intensely for a month.

I will be wearing my laser-powered teacher eyes. They will be ridden for every flaw. In one month or less, they will test for promotion. They will pass.

No rest for them, as they will test again before the end of June.

Only the presence of beginners could interfere with this intense training time. Likely we won't have any. If we do, they become a training tool. Does that sound painful?

It isn't. While I take the old folks through their paces, students will be expected to show the newbies the ropes until they can join the line. This helps the experienced students as they have to figure out how to verbalize what they know. If you want to learn; teach. I see no difficulty in having any new rookies ready to be Yellow Belts by July.

The club will shut down for July and August. Back at it for September. We have to get new people for autumn. Fall is good. It is the longest term by several weeks. Moving everybody up one more belt is no sweat for either them or for me.

This all must sound pretty driven. It isn't. I'm sure there will be time for more diverse learning than just pursuing rank. I am going to get Ogawa Sensei there sometimes. He is fabulous, and when present he is the boss.

The instructor from the neighbouring Shitu-ryu club wants to visit us, too.

I bet I could get the head of the JKA in the province to show up. Might save that for later.

Testing focus, with changes of pace.

I think that can work.

Gold watch

I'll soon have the new Karate club up and running, and shortly after that I'll earn my Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt.

My week will start filling right up.

Saturday is the Queen of the week. I'll have a Jiu-Jitsu reflex class at 9:00am, and then a Blue Belt test from 10:00-11:00. There will be a half hour drive home, and time for lunch and then an hour of Karate.

Sunday will be restful.

Monday contains an hour and a quarter of Karate.

Tuesday two, one-hour Jiu-Jitsu classes

Wednesday is free.

Thursday two hours of Jiu-Jitsu, just like Tuesday.

Friday is free.

That adds up to 8 classes a week.

This might be quite a lot while I'm still holding down my high-school teaching job. The cool thing is it's my last year before retirement.

Retired people need lots of fun to fill their time.

Starting a new Karate club now is also clever timing another way. It gives me a year and a half to get the students all ready for my retirement, too.

I'll be starting out with a couple of Yellow Belts, and a Brown Belt who has been off for a decade or so.

Let's just look at the Yellows for a minute. By summer, they will be Orange Belts. By Christmas, Greens. By next year at this time, Blue. By the time I'm retired they will be Purple Belts.

If I go away for some sweet vacation after that, can they take over for a month or so? You betcha, and that's not even considering the Brown Belt.

By the time I retire there will be a club with a fabulous instructor (me) that contains plenty of people able to take over short-term.

I am also toying with the idea of having weekday daytime classes for retired people. Of course, this will occur after I'm retired as well.

I'm going to be one busy, kicking, punching and rasslin' fool.

Nuts

I declare it to be a verified fact; people are nuts.

On Thursday, a whole bunch of people reached the point in their training where they are permitted to join the illustrious Saturday morning Jiu-Jitsu class. They all seemed very pumped about it on Thursday.

This brings to about ten the number of White Belts who can attend the Saturday class.

Here's the kicker. You need to attend 12 of these classes or you'll never, ever get promoted to Blue Belt and therefore never be allowed into the advanced class.

So how many of us were there for the Saturday class? Exactly two of us. That's nuts.

This was my sixth Saturday class. Since I've been coming only three other White Belts have attended at all. One guy has been there twice, and two guys once each.

I guess they don't want to get to the really cool advanced class.

New

The die is cast, and the Rubicon has been crossed.

I am a Karate teacher again. The new club starts up at the end of this month in Davis Bay.

The three people who have already expressed an interest all sound pretty excited. I'm excited, too.

There is often energy in new things. I have a good feeling about this one.

I'm trying to think of all the organizational details that will make things as smooth as possible. Might invite everybody to lunch or something to discuss any ideas or feelings they might want to share.

About a week ago I notified the head of the Japan Karate Association in the province about the possibility of a new club. He was very supportive. Things should be smooth in that direction.

It is all good.