Beginning of the Year Training

Good evening everyone! How are you all? I am very well thank you!

Woke up extra early this morning to get the boys up and around doing their morning chores. They (for some odd reason) were not difficult to wake up and get out of bed today! Gee...I wonder why??? I made oatmeal and heated up some English muffins for breakfast with some coffee.

As soon as we scarfed down breakfast, I went and ironed Jordan's and my GI. We had to leave the house by 8:30 since Nathan had an eye appointment in town. He dropped us off at the main dojo in Albuquerque, then went to his appointment. He ran some errands while we did our beginning of the year training.

Training started at 10:00 this morning. My sensei, Sensei Caesar, is notorious for joking with me and pulling my leg. The bad thing about it, is that he is so serious when he does it. He will keep going for 15 minutes. At first, I don't believe him, but then he keeps going at it and he finally convinces me to go along with him...then he lets me feel really silly for believing him. Each time he does this, I say I am NEVER going to believe him ever again, but he ALWAYS manages to get me! I guess it doesn't help matters that I am taking medication for an under active thyroid. If I forget to take my medication at all, I cannot concentrate and my mind is the first thing to go. Sensei Caesar told us at class this week that he thought Beginning of the Year Training began at 10:00 and went to 12:00. I triple checked with him because I thought for some reason it was 9:00 - 11:00. Nathan's eye appointment was at 9:20, so he dropped us off at the dojo and 9:15. For those who do not know about the main sensei, Sensei Nagatomo, he does not tolerate tardiness EVER. Basically, if you end up being late, you better not show up at all. So, at 9:25, I got a call on my cell from another student going to training. I had to call Sensei Caesar and he started telling me, " Sorry, I'm on I-25. You need to get to the dojo ASAP because training starts at 9:30!" Sensei thought I was still going to show up at 9:45. He wasn't aware that I was already at the dojo!!! I told him, "Nice one Casear! You'd better hurry up and get here then! I'm already here at the dojo...you'd better not be late!" I was laughing so hard! He couldn't get me this morning!

Training this morning was a blast! Aaron, Jordan and I went. I truly enjoyed spending the morning with them! This year, the dojo theme is opportunity. We as individuals need to look for opportunities that present themselves to us, in our personal lives and our "karate" lives. We can apply everything we learn in karate to our everyday lives. Last year, our theme was motivation. Our Sensei Nagatomo encouraged each of us to write down a personal goal for ourselves for this year. My goal this year is to help my music students realize their full potential this year and to get their desire for learning music to catch fire underneath them! I plan to do this by demonstrating my love for music and my enthusiasm for learning. Who knows...maybe it'll spread like wild fire! My other goal this year is to train better in karate to prepare myself for my black belt testing. What I mean by this is to strive to make changes each time I practice and to not continually repeat the same mistake over and over or just not strive to improve. I don't want to settle for less.

I am pretty sore and stiff from karate on Thursday and training today. I hope to go soak in the tub tonight!

Nathan and I took a short road trip this afternoon to go pick up hay grazer for our animals. We got to spend quality time together just talking the whole way!

Well, I think I'm going to start drawing my bath water! Good night everyone. Sleep well and God bless!