One of the great advantages of being a martial artist is that you never run out of ideas for what people can buy you for Christmas or birthdays. There are always books, weapons or other pieces of equipment that you need. This Christmas was no exception…
My mum wanted to know what to get me so I suggested an umbrella stand. That’s a bit old fashioned she said, why do you want one of those? Oh, I don’t want it to put umbrellas in, I said, I want it to store my weapons in!
We have a collection of bokkens, a jo, a bo and several sets of nunchucks which have been lying on the floor of our gym, getting in the way and at risk of being damaged. An umbrella stand or something similar seemed the perfect storage device to me. Well, Mum couldn’t get an umbrella stand but found a great two foot tall vase made from moulded plastic and painted gold. It has that ‘Ali Baba’ look about it. As you can see from the photo above it fits its purpose beautifully and is keeping all our weapons neat, tidy and safe.
We also received a multi-weapon carrying bag so that we can now transport our weapons legally to and from the dojo! One of my sons’ bought me David Lowry’s latest book: ‘The Essence of Budo’, and my husband bought me a Kindle onto which I have already downloaded a couple of martial arts books from Amazon. So all in all it has been a very good martial artsy Christmas for me – I’m very lucky!
However, with Christmas gone it is now time to look forward to the year ahead and make some plans. One of the big events for us in 2011 will be grading for our black belts. My husband, eldest son and I will hopefully be grading together in May/June. I have decided that 5-6 months of solid, hard training will be needed to get up to the required standard and so I have started to think about how to structure this training over the coming months.
With this aim in mind I have decided to publically plan and document my training schedule as well as analyse my progress as I countdown towards my shodan. However, I will do this in a new blog called ‘Countdown to Shodan’ rather than in this blog. This is because the theme of this blog has never been to document the details of my training schedule and I don’t wish to change the theme of this blog. ‘My Journey to Black Belt’ will continue in its present form. I will link the two blogs together and hopefully update both of them on a weekly basis.
I’ll let you know when the new blog is up and running. Meanwhile I wish everyone a happy new year…..
Here's the link to my new blog: 'Countdown to Shodan' . You will also find it in my blog list.
My mum wanted to know what to get me so I suggested an umbrella stand. That’s a bit old fashioned she said, why do you want one of those? Oh, I don’t want it to put umbrellas in, I said, I want it to store my weapons in!
We have a collection of bokkens, a jo, a bo and several sets of nunchucks which have been lying on the floor of our gym, getting in the way and at risk of being damaged. An umbrella stand or something similar seemed the perfect storage device to me. Well, Mum couldn’t get an umbrella stand but found a great two foot tall vase made from moulded plastic and painted gold. It has that ‘Ali Baba’ look about it. As you can see from the photo above it fits its purpose beautifully and is keeping all our weapons neat, tidy and safe.
We also received a multi-weapon carrying bag so that we can now transport our weapons legally to and from the dojo! One of my sons’ bought me David Lowry’s latest book: ‘The Essence of Budo’, and my husband bought me a Kindle onto which I have already downloaded a couple of martial arts books from Amazon. So all in all it has been a very good martial artsy Christmas for me – I’m very lucky!
However, with Christmas gone it is now time to look forward to the year ahead and make some plans. One of the big events for us in 2011 will be grading for our black belts. My husband, eldest son and I will hopefully be grading together in May/June. I have decided that 5-6 months of solid, hard training will be needed to get up to the required standard and so I have started to think about how to structure this training over the coming months.
With this aim in mind I have decided to publically plan and document my training schedule as well as analyse my progress as I countdown towards my shodan. However, I will do this in a new blog called ‘Countdown to Shodan’ rather than in this blog. This is because the theme of this blog has never been to document the details of my training schedule and I don’t wish to change the theme of this blog. ‘My Journey to Black Belt’ will continue in its present form. I will link the two blogs together and hopefully update both of them on a weekly basis.
I’ll let you know when the new blog is up and running. Meanwhile I wish everyone a happy new year…..
Here's the link to my new blog: 'Countdown to Shodan' . You will also find it in my blog list.
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I like the idea of a new blog, Sue. Heading over to subscribe now :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Felicia, I'll need all the support I can get! It's a tough road ahead.
ReplyDeleteSue,
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited at the prospect of you and your family testing! You have a great attitude and are so hard working. Some reassuring (I hope) experiences: 1) It took me three tests to get the belt. The second time I didn't finish because I tore my ACL. It was all the sweeter for taking longer. My hero during testing was my friend Mike, who tested FIVE times to get it. You'll probably get it the first time, you're so dedicated, but it's not the worst thing if it takes longer. 2) a couple at my school, who are also business partners, tested together; she got the belt, he didn't on the first try. The relationship survived, and now they both have the belt.
I think that this is awesome! I also am working on my way towards my blackbelt and my test is coming up this coming spring. I have been practicing martial arts for almost 7 years now and training can be really hard because of the forms, sparring sets, and self defense sets to remember. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi Bob, your black belt must mean a lot if you had to put yourself through the test 3 times. It says a lot about your positive attitude, perseverence and dedication that you didn't just give up, especially after your ACL tear. This makes you a good role model Bob. I'm hoping to be successful the first time but if I'm not then I'll think of you and how you didn't give up.
ReplyDeleteElmer, thanks for visiting my blog - perhaps we could swap notes and tips about training? Good luck with your shodan test in the spring.
Hope the new blog goes well!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ninja!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Sue and good luck in your quest. I have no doubt you will blitz it. I will check out your progress with great interest. You might want to rename this one "A Black Belt's Journey", as you will come to realize how much more there is to learn in this great big world of martial arts we live in.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt, I'm not sure I'll blitz it but I'll give it my best shot! I'm well aware that I'm still climbing in the foothills. It's one of those situations where the more you learn the more you realise there is still to learn - it's a never ending journey :-)
ReplyDeleteA new blog name? Yeah, I've been thinking about that....