Focus and the new training

Classes are about to begin again. Starting next week I will return to the mat. Better yet, my old partner will be back in town all summer - and so we've planned a rigorous schedule to rock the mat hard this summer. ;-) We both need to focus ..and so that brings me to the subject of this post - focus.

In my cat's supposed broken english: Focus: U doin it wrong. I learned some interesting things over the past semester - mostly about instructing others. But I did spend a fair amount of time observing my juniors and in doing so, discovered some ways to improve my own performance of certain techniques.

However, all in all, my own abilities diminished somewhat while my partner was gone. This isn't his fault, rather it is mostly my own fault..though not entirely. It's a matter of focus. My aite and I have always managed to maintain a fairly decent level of focus in our training - meeting regularly and focusing on our own techniques: the important ones, not often deviating into various "more interesting" techniques. Yet, with him gone, I spent an entire semester wandering about with no consistent partner.

Also, without the concern of any impending test, I let myself spend the majority of my time helping my juniors prepare for their tests. This did teach me several things, but I think that the most important thing that it taught me was - well, the importance of focus.

Focus is what helps us to reach truly great levels of understanding. Without it, we may learn techniques but we will never come to fully understand them. And so - this semester we will be a bit selfish. We need to focus on ourselves. Certainly, if someone approaches me needing help I will take the time to show them, but I won't be going out of my way to find and assist them - I have some catching up to do. We will be there bright and early before classes start - and the room will be filled with the sounds of our mat falls.

A move and a party

I'm moving! Hooah. My wife and I are looking at some apartments, a nice little 1br. It's a little smaller than I might wish but they didn't have any 2br apartments available. Also, my old aite is coming back in town for the summer and so we're throwing a sort of combined, dual-celebration, party.

I've planned the drinks, i've planned the activity, now..I just have to decide on food. *Puts chef's hat on*