Trip

The general guideline for progress beyond Blue Belt is supposed to be about a level per year. I have been planning my future on this basis.

Turns out this is optimistic. It will take an absolute minimum of 60 weeks. I am returning to regular training in September. There are 16 week before Christmas. In the New Year there are 25 weeks before the end of June.

I am assuming we won't travel much that summer, so July and August will provide another 9 weeks.

The total is 50 weeks. Not enough, even if my attendance is perfect.

So what?

In the fall of 2013 Helen and I might just be heading south to LA for a few months. Clearly by then I will still be a Blue Belt working on my first stripe.

It matters. It means that while there, I can train enough to easily finish my requirements, and take my exam.

I can plan how much I want to train while in LA based on how much I want to learn. Learning for its own sake, not for how many stripes I can put on my belt. Train a reasonable amount, and I'll get my stripe. Work like a nut and learn a ton, and I'll get the same single stripe.

I'll train several times a day. They have a lot of classes down there.

There are hotels near to the Gracie Academy. I'll be able to walk to training. Poor Helen will have no training to do, and will be trapped in Los Angeles with tons of time and a car with GPS. I think she can keep herself entertained.

Together we will to all sorts of sweet touristy things. There is no training on the weekend after Saturday morning. I foresee lots of Disney visits, and day trips as far as San Diego and throughout the LA area.

It sounds like fun.

We’ve never, ever done an extended vacation like this.