HIS Karate-Do

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is the first Sat training of the month, which means that everyone is invited to train for the two hours from 09:00-11:00 am. I’ll gear the training towards techniques/drills that everyone can do together as well as spend more time on kata. It also gives kohais from the first class a chance to train with their sempais from the second class. I have sometimes mentioned that the more time one can spend in practice, the better one gets (duh!). In the old days, we trained up to 5-7 times a week. Not only that, but the training was often 2-3 hours each. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out why this was good for us. Those who have been with the ministry from the beginning (like Sempai Rodney) can remember that during our first couple of years, everyone trained for two hours (no wonder they learned a lot), until the group got too large and the rank gaps got too broad and we had to split into two classes. The first Sat of the month, the kohais have the opportunity to put in an extra hour to learn a little more karate-do (exams [...]

I was talking with my dad recently (I take dad out for lunch once a week) about how only he, my uncle and aunt, remain from his generation of relatives that I grew up with. Of course, it’s a natural thing, and no one lives forever…however, as the members of a particular generation dwindle off to a precious few (dad will be 86 in January) of our kupuna, it becomes more evident that a special generation is leaving us by ones and twos. Dad and others who are 80+, belong to what Tom Brokaw called, “The Greatest Generation”, folks who had lived through the Depression, fought in World War II, helped fuel the economic/political/military giant that America was in the 1950’s and 1960’s, ushered in the Space Age, the Age of Television, and the Age of Computers, and so on. Most of us alive today, belong to the Baby Boomer generation, or possibly the Gen-Xer’s. We have inherited all the good they accomplished, mixed in with some of the not-so-good. My dad said that within a few more years, they’ll all be gone and, with them, I suppose, the passing of an age. In that light, I was a little [...]

Well, I’m back after a couple of back-to-back trips to Las Vegas and Colorado Springs, respectively; one for vacation, one for work. Both were quite enjoyable, and I learned a lot, though I missed several karate training sessions. Fortunately, I had great coverage from Sempai James (thanks James!). I am very happy to be back home and to be back at training. The week in Vegas was a great time spent with my son Matt. We had conversations over meals and walking through the downtown area and the Strip. I also met up with my in-laws (Matt’s grandparents), who were there for a high school reunion. I was able to make progress reading through a couple of books and got to visit the the Palazzo, one of the most recent hotels on the Strip, adjoining the Venetian. The week in Colorado Springs was work-related and quite busy, but very enjoyable as well. I hadn’t been in Colorado Springs since 1992, when we went up as a family, to visit my brother-in-law’s home there. It had changed a lot over the last sixteen years, but remains a largely rural area dominated by the hills surrounding Cheyenne Mountain. My room had a [...]