As 2017 draws to a close...

[Balrog]

I've been sitting here thinking back over the last year. It wasn't wonderful, but it wasn't all that bad, either.

I'm hoping that 2018 will be better for all of us. SWMBO and I wish every one of you the best of luck in the upcoming New Year!

 

[skribs]

2017 was an interesting year for me. I had my first demonstration with my Demonstration Team, and we ended up doing 5 demonstrations.

• Our first was at the Tacoma Dome, for a big Asian culture fair event for the New Year. The Tacoma Dome is the biggest venue in our city.
• Did the half-time show for a college women's basketball game (the college cheerleaders did a great job pumping up the crowd, and I realized "oh, that's why they're called cheer leaders")
• Displayed our skills for our dojang's yearly picnic
• Did a demonstration and class at a special needs youth camp
• Performed for the Korean Independence Day celebration that was held at a local high school

I trained the demonstration team. A few of those demonstrations were run by him, with me handling my part, but two of those I handled on my own, including running a class for 50 special needs kids.

---

I didn't really have a bad year, but it's probably going to be the only year in the past two or next two that I don't get a new Dan rank.

• 2015: Taekwondo 1st Dan
• 2016: Taekwondo 2nd Dan
• 2017: No Dan rank
• 2018: Taekwondo 3rd Dan (projected goal)
• 2019: Hapkido 1st Dan (projected goal)

I've been working towards my 2018 and 2019 goals, but I'm not so sure it's going to happen.

That 2018 test is going to be interesting, because my Mom will be going for 1st Dan, my Dad for 2nd Dan, and I will go for 3rd Dan all at the same time.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

2017 was a fun year. Some breakthroughs. Mostly uneventful from a MA perspective. If I can keep myself in town enough, I'd love to grow my little program back up to the 7 I once had (currently at 3), and then on to 10-12 (about capacity for the room I currently use). I'd love to have the capacity to start teaching a class for teens. I'd also like to start doing some seminars - I've long wanted to put together a program of delivering seminars at schools to help expand those students' exposure and maybe help the schools raise a bit of extra cash for equipment and such.

 

[geezer]

2017 was a fun year. Some breakthroughs. Mostly uneventful from a MA perspective. If I can keep myself in town enough, I'd love to grow my little program ...

^^^ Me too!

My program has dwindled down to a mere handful. I sat down and added up rent (sub-letting a little space at a nearby gym), insurance, association dues, membership fees, and so on, and found that even running a tiny program on a super-tight, shoestring budget it costs me $5,000 dollars just to keep the doors open, and over $6,000 total --if I am going to add in the minimum training I pay for myself in order to be a decent instructor. I realized that with my current numbers I can't quite break even. Now, I love teaching, but to give up 3-4 days a week, every week, year after year, I really ought to be able to at least break even.

So my New Year's resolution will be to find a few more souls who really want to learn Yip Man Ving Tsun, and who knows? Maybe I'll even make enough extra to finance the training necessary to finally reach my next rank. Of course I don't want to rush things. After all, my last promotion was barely 30 years ago.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

2017 is a bad year for me. My senior SC brother David C. K. Lin passed away. My lovely 2 lb 6 oz Yorkie dog Yaya also passed away.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

^^^ Me too!

My program has dwindled down to a mere handful. I sat down and added up rent (sub-letting a little space at a nearby gym), insurance, association dues, membership fees, and so on, and found that even running a tiny program on a super-tight, shoestring budget it costs me $5,000 dollars just to keep the doors open, and over $6,000 total --if I am going to add in the minimum training I pay for myself in order to be a decent instructor. I realized that with my current numbers I can't quite break even. Now, I love teaching, but to give up 3-4 days a week, every week, year after year, I really ought to be able to at least break even.

So my New Year's resolution will be to find a few more souls who really want to learn Yip Man Ving Tsun, and who knows? Maybe I'll even make enough extra to finance the training necessary to finally reach my next rank. Of course I don't want to rush things. After all, my last promotion was barely 30 years ago.

I hear ya on that. I have almost no overhead (25% to the site, equipment, insurance), and I never break even so far as I know. I operate the program as a division of my LLC, so it absorbs some of the profits from corporate training/consulting/coaching. And I only give up 2-3 class times per week, so I don't mind too much, but I'd like to make a bit for the time I invest in curriculum and all the time spent on planning and finding space.

 

[JR 137]

...but I'd like to make a bit for the time I invest in curriculum and all the time spent on planning and finding space.

And the time you spend on here “researching.”

 

[yak sao]

Other than filling in on occasion, my son handles the teaching for our small little group of Wing Tsun misfits.

But I'm hopping back in the saddle in 2018 .Starting this week I'm going to be teaching a technicians class, (that's the term we use for what is in essence our black belts).
And we're going to try and do some marketing to breathe some new life into the club.
In fact, I'll start now... anyone in the Louisville Kentucky area who wants to train WT...

 

[Xue Sheng]

2017 had its ups and downs....mostly it was mediocre

-The youngest got another belt in Aikido and is doing well in school
-But due to the school workload she had to quit the youth symphony she loved so much
-The oldest stuck with his major (Mechanical Engineering) and is doing well
-But that rasin frasin man bun just won't go away.
-I returned to JKD and that was great, only to be told by an eye doc that the retina was thinning and getting hit is not a good thing if I want to continue seeing with that eye. So it stopped rather quickly too
-Had a lot of arthritis issues in my hips as well, but I'm still moving and it seems that Taiji and Baduanjin are helping
-Started teaching Taiji again and set up a time to start training with my taiji shifu again.
-Also had a student say something to me I had never had said to me before, it actually made me wonder who she was talking to. She said she was so happy that she finally find a taiji teacher with so much knowledge about taiji.... still trying to figure out who she was talking to

I have had worse years and I have had better, all in all it was just OK, on a scale of 1 to 10 I give it between a 4 and a 5

Hoping everyone's 2018 is a good one

 

[geezer]

2017 had its ups and downs....mostly it was mediocre....
-I returned to JKD and that was great, only to be told by an eye doc that the retina was thinning and getting hit is not a good thing ....Hoping everyone's 2018 is a good one

Whoa.... I got told about that "thin-retina" thing too, after I started seeing flashes and got a whole lot of vitreous floaters in my left eye --kinda like a snow globe but filled with black soot strands instead of glitter. The risk factor has something to do with being really near-sighted. But the doc didn't tell me to stop MA or any other activity. Besides if I go blind, there's always the tactile senses we train in chi-sau. Also, I've got huge ears and they work OK except for the tinnitus. And I have a good sense of smell, if that helps?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mhNy2IhGkNs/U8OKHZNhhZI/AAAAAAAACfg/tcmLPJ8b47o/s1600/KLUKE-anniv.jpg

As far as the kids go, my son is doing well in college in Seattle, while my daughter blew off her scholarship a couple of years back and is working as a waitress. This year she got really depressed and I was seriously worried about her, but more recently has pulled things together, found some new friends and is doing great right now. Both kids have been spending time with us over the holidays. So here's to a great 2018!

 

[JR 137]

I started 2017 with Lyme disease (diagnosed a week before thanksgiving 2016), and wasn’t fully over it until around the middle of March. Couldn’t train at all during that period due to severe fatigue. No idea how I made it through the work day everyday, other than drinking about 4-5 cans of Pepsi everyday (I can’t stand the taste of coffee).

My grandmother passed away on April 20th. She was genuinely the sweetest and nicest person I’ve ever met. She treated me and everyone else she knew like they were her favorite person in the world. Aside from my wife and daughters, she was my favorite person. A single day hasn’t gone by without me thinking about her in some way. Nor will a day ever go by without thinking of her.

My mother went in for “routine” hernia repair surgery on November 8th. During the surgery, he small intestine was perforated, causing sepsis. Close to 2 weeks of coma and life support. About 4 surgeries later, she’s still in the hospital and will have another some time today. Due to how everything’s been going, I’ll be shocked if this is the last one she needs.

Other than all of that, 2017 wasn’t too bad. My 3 loves of my life (wife and daughters) and I have been healthy and happy. Our jobs were ok. We had a nice vacation in the summer. Needless to say my karate training was pretty erratic, but life gets in the way and there’s more important things.

Here’s hoping for a healthier and more prosperous 2018.

 

[Buka]

My heart goes out to you @Kung Fu Wang.

The year 2017.....I'm sure some stuff happened. I mean, it must have, right?

To all of you - I wish you and your loved ones one thing. Another New Year twelve months from now. May it be happy, healthy and filled with giggles, C-notes and cookies.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

And the time you spend on here “researching.”

Yeah. Researching.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

My heart goes out to you @Kung Fu Wang.

The year 2017.....I'm sure some stuff happened. I mean, it must have, right?

To all of you - I wish you and your loved ones one thing. Another New Year twelve months from now. May it be happy, healthy and filled with giggles, C-notes and cookies.

And to you, brother. Especially the cookies. Maybe a bit of Kahlua cheesecake, too.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

2017 is a bad year for me. My senior SC brother David C. K. Lin passed away. My lovely 2 lb 6 oz Yorkie dog Yaya also passed away.

I've had to say the long goodbye to a few friends of both types. Only one of them (the 4-legged variety) in 2017.

 

[Danny T]

Years ago I along with many of my brothers went through a period of strife and stress. Having made it through everything else has been gravy. Every wake up means another good day. Some day are certainly better than others and not every day has been easy but every day is a good day. Hopefully, 2018 will be a filled with great days.
All the best to everyone.

 

[JR 137]

Yeah. Researching.

I would say you can tell your wife you’re researching for work when she’s “reminding” you to take out the garbage, clean up, etc.; but that’s not going to fly anymore because she’s here too.

Is there no place safe anymore?

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

My heart goes out to you @Kung Fu Wang.

The year 2017.....I'm sure some stuff happened. I mean, it must have, right?

To all of you - I wish you and your loved ones one thing. Another New Year twelve months from now. May it be happy, healthy and filled with giggles, C-notes and cookies.

I've had to say the long goodbye to a few friends of both types. Only one of them (the 4-legged variety) in 2017.

Thanks!

After my Yorkie Yaya (2 lb 6 oz) died on 4/20/2017, my wife got 3 Yorkies - Jaja (3 lb 8 oz), Bandit (3 lb 4 oz), and Cowboy (2 lb 3 oz). It's always safe by number. These 3 dogs cost me $8,000. This remind me when I dated 3 girlfriends at the same time, when one girl left me, it won't hurt my feeling that much.

In 2018, the 10 miles Pismo Beach Preserve hiking trail will be open. The trail head is only 1/2 miles from my house. I can walk over there without driving. With nice ocean view, I'm really looking forward to it. If I can walk 10 miles daily, I should be able to maintain my health.

 

[Buka]

I started 2017 with Lyme disease (diagnosed a week before thanksgiving 2016), and wasn’t fully over it until around the middle of March. Couldn’t train at all during that period due to severe fatigue. No idea how I made it through the work day everyday, other than drinking about 4-5 cans of Pepsi everyday (I can’t stand the taste of coffee).

My grandmother passed away on April 20th. She was genuinely the sweetest and nicest person I’ve ever met. She treated me and everyone else she knew like they were her favorite person in the world. Aside from my wife and daughters, she was my favorite person. A single day hasn’t gone by without me thinking about her in some way. Nor will a day ever go by without thinking of her.

My mother went in for “routine” hernia repair surgery on November 8th. During the surgery, he small intestine was perforated, causing sepsis. Close to 2 weeks of coma and life support. About 4 surgeries later, she’s still in the hospital and will have another some time today. Due to how everything’s been going, I’ll be shocked if this is the last one she needs.

Other than all of that, 2017 wasn’t too bad. My 3 loves of my life (wife and daughters) and I have been healthy and happy. Our jobs were ok. We had a nice vacation in the summer. Needless to say my karate training was pretty erratic, but life gets in the way and there’s more important things.

Here’s hoping for a healthier and more prosperous 2018.

Good thoughts and wishes to your mom, bro.

As for training being erratic - it happens. But I believe the training we go through in Martial Arts helps us deal with the more important things in life, especially the difficult things.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I would say you can tell your wife you’re researching for work when she’s “reminding” you to take out the garbage, clean up, etc.; but that’s not going to fly anymore because she’s here too.

Is there no place safe anymore?

It's okay. She knows how easily I get lost in stuff like this. She has no illusion the trash is going out right away.