I was planning on stopping by the last day of the Tribal today to see everyone and wish them well. I am fighting a pretty bad cough today. I would have come by if it were just the sniffles, but I'm feeling pretty congested. Sorry to not be able to stop by.

I hope no one sustained any serious injuries (beyond what I already read about on FB).

GD

Grateful to finish one of two weeks of state testing at the high school at which I teach; this week actually shaped up to be quite fun.

Grateful for a short nap.

Congrats on embarking on the journey again, JC!


I am grateful for the same.

I have been away from these boards for a while, but I would like to start posting on here a bit more regularly again.

I'm grateful for an opportunity.

Sled Dog - I am not alone in my huge amount of respect for you, both for who you were, and who you are.

Guro Crafty - I can literally feel my heart rate go up a little at the thought of seeing the DVD.

Grateful for an uneventful day (in a good way).

Grateful for a much better perspective than I had yesterday.

Grateful for my students, my instructors (legends), my mentors/instructors in around my age range, and an emergent set of martial arts contemporaries in my life: people who I either teach in one context and train with in another, or people I teach who know just as much as I do in other areas.

Kaju,


Reading that sentence makes me very happy; I'm grateful you wrote that.

Grateful for the sense of being a member of a LARGE, multi-faceted community that comes from involvement in the martial arts.

Grateful for routine.

Grateful for a wonderful week of vacation in Europe with my wife. Now back to training!

This news is deeply affecting. I will miss Dog Howie forever. His strength and his heart are examples for us all.

Okay. The context of your frustration is better understood.


Good. The pieces you posted are insightful.


Now I'm clear that you are expressing a written reaction to a topic about which you are passionate.


GM - I am a public high school teacher in southern California. The line above caught my attention. The information about districts with concealed carry permits is also fascinating. Is there a particular department in my district I should contact to find out what our policy is regarding concealed carry permits? I realize CA is a "May Grant" state and depending on the county a CCW might be impossible to obtain, but I would like more information.

When I got home from work last Friday, my wife and I had a chance to debrief the shooting for the first time. I said something like, "We (educators) need a highly-regulated way to conceal weapons in the classroom. Even if the average school site only has 20-25% of the staff armed, that is a huge deterrant."

No sarcasm intended, but I really would like more information if you would be willing to supply it.

Tom,

Having grown up with the movie Bloodsport (that movie got me into Tae Kwon Do when I was 11), it never occurred to me in my youth that when the movie was supposed to be based on a true story, the story had been embellished. I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind please sharing some of your more memorable Frank Dux stories (good or bad) in this thread? I'd really like to know more about what your time was like with the man, and what your no-doubt evolving impression of him was as time went on.

GD

PS - Almost a decade ago, I spent over $600 on seminars with a man who had photoshopped his face over the face of someone in a picture with Bruce Lee, and claimed to be a private student. We've all been there as far as putting our well-intentioned beliefs into someone who does not deserve them.

What a brilliant takeaway from that article, GM.
Since tone can sometimes be hard to convey on an Internet discussion board, let me confirm the presence of scathing sarcasm in the previous sentence.

No doubt that you'll counter by writing that I am trying to suppress you opinion or your expression. Let me save you the trouble by writing that your right to your opinions and your freedom of expression are good things.

Just please stop purposefully being a dick.

Grateful to have completed a minor task.

Grateful to have the rock that is martial arts in my life.

Congratulations, Guro Point Dog!

Grateful that my little garage group has started gaining some momentum.

Grateful for getting what feels like enough sleep.

Grateful for a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Due to some family dynamics, we had two separate dinners. I am happily fasting today!

A beautiful selection, GC.

Grateful for a LARGE gathering of family for Thanksgiving that will take place at my home for the first time in my life. How blessed and humbled I am to be an adult with a young family of my own, and a home in which to host the day.

Grateful for anyone who approaches a teacher with an authentic hunger for knowledge.

Grateful for the current week.

My deepest gratitude for our Veterans.

Grateful for a small, but enjoybale class last night.

Grateful for a pretty darn good "draft" of a project.

Grateful something is almost finished.

My son tripped last night and cut his scalp fairly deeply. I'm grateful that while he needed four staples last night, today he is acting like he feels just fine.

Also, prayers for my friends on the east coast. I hope you are safe, any damage that comes your way is minor.

Guro Lonely,

A sincere thanks for these clips. They are very valuable.

Your Friend,

GD

Grateful for some renewal.

SG - I teach 11th grade AP English at the #2 ranked public high school in San Bernardino County (the largest country in the lower 48). On one hand, the students are under enormous pressure, made even worse by the economy which is making college admission, and even securing classes once admitted incredibly difficult. By the same token, this is my 10th year as a secondary public school teacher; every year, the character/morals of the kids seems different. It's completely inconsistent. Some years, the kids are finding ways to legitimately complete inhuman amounts of work and activities, and then the next year, they are all copying their The Scarlet Letter essay from the same PH.D. candidate's blog. When it's your kid, and you're watching them work themselves to death, I can only imagine what that feels like. It's not very comforting in the moment, but you need to do everything you can to let your daughter know that her hard work will pay off. Even being an educator in southern California, I understand the admission process for NYC public high school system, and I have read about "Stuy"; your daughters achievements are already amazing. Please keep us posted of her progress.

BD - Having small children of my own, it's the idea of their molestation/kidnapping/murders that taps me into the mindset of taking horrible, American Psycho-like revenge on their attackers. I'm glad that very little in this life takes me to that place mentally, but the thought of someone damaging them with finality certainly does.

I

I'm grateful a particularly challenging portion of the academic year has already passed.

You make some fine points. Since everyone usually looks like they are full of a little less piss and vinegar on the second day anyway, the 1. full-day Tribal on Saturday 2. Traditionally scheduled Open on Sunday model would work just fine.

I will admit that I have been attempting to reconcile my role as a fighter with my role as a teacher and a father for the last two years, and while I am by no means retired, I have not made the CA Tribal for the last two years, so I don't know if the old Temecula formula of 1. fight from roughly 11 until 2pm 2. Lunch break 3. fight until late afternoon/early evening/the beginnings of sunset model for Saturday is still in play, which was what I had in mind when I made my suggestion above.

Your points also seem reasonable, and by adopting that model, that might be the closest we can get to making as many people happy as possible.

  Since I have clearly not satisfied your Internet-fed addiction for the complete absence of civil discourse, here you go:

YOU'RE SO STUPID, POINT DOG! IF OUR REAL NAMES WERE EASILY ACCESSIBLE ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE, I WOULD SHOW UP AND KICK YOUR ASS. MY TRUCK ALSO HAS WAY BIGGER TIRES AND A LARGER TAP OUT STICKER ON THE BACK WINDOW THAN YOURS. YOU'VE BEEN FU&%IN' WARNED. DON'T EVER GO OVER MY FU%$IN' HEAD AGAIN, YOU MOTHERFU&%ER! (Okay, the last part was Joe Pesci's dialogue from when he's yelling at DeNiro in Casino).

Okay? I've insulted you with no real provocation and threatened to beat you up; is your world still crashing in on itself, or has order been restored? 

Okay. 

We started having a single one-day Open, and a single two-day Tribal each year in California after the three-day 20th anniversary Gathering in 2008. I remember that some were opposed to making a weekend tribal an annual event at that time.


This is gold from C-D.D. Please remember that the paragraph above was written by a Texan, which makes it mean more than it would coming from a Californian who lives an hour from most of the West Coast Gathering sites here.

My suggestion is this:

Hold the next Gathering on an agreed upon weekend (in another thread, it looks like May 4th and 5th is pulling ahead).

1. On the Saturday of that weekend, start the Open around 9-9:30 am.
2. Break for lunch around 2ish.
3. An hour later, part 1 of the Tribal begins on Saturday for about 2 to 3 hours (on until the sun starts to set). Fighters who made Dog at the Open can continue fighting.

4. Sunday is Tribe only, say from 11 until everyone has had enough.

Sadly, no option will accommodate 100% of people 100% of the time.

I have lost the ability to speak above a whisper. I am grateful that I got through teaching last night in my garage before my voice gave out, and that this has happened to me before and I know I can get through the work day with Power Point and body language.

Having explained the context in which we use "vaginitis" in DBMA to my wife yesterday, she said, "Tell Guro Marc, as a woman, I not only approve of that usage, but I think it's great."

Congrats on your home, Kaju.

Grateful for surviving my first cold of the academic year. I stayed home yesterday feeling dreadful. Today, I am back at work feeling pleasantly disconnected from my body, and the last medication I took was over 14 hours ago.

Wishing everyone a great day of transformation, and nothing more than light bruising and stick hickies!

Grateful to have met some nice, new potential students last night.

We actually had our first class back in the garage last night. I had a nice turnout, and there is a good little group of students growing. Thank you all for your positive energy!

After a great year of teaching in my facility in Pomona, California, I have made the decision to move my classes back into my garage in Chino Hills.

I am a full-time high school teacher with two little children (5 and 3), and the timing is simply off. Even at three days a week (I was teaching Monday - Wednesday from 5 until 9), that's just too much time away from my kids and my wife. I really tried last year to be everything to everybody, but I'm only one person. I don't want anyone to think I gave up without a fight. I will absolutely think about trying again later when my kids are a little older.

On the upside, I logged something like 500 hours of teaching martial arts this year, I have a DVD in the works, and now I have some really nice equipment for the garage. I will also actually be able to get back to my own training (I did WAY more teaching than training last year). I did not go bankrupt, or lose my house; I just did not renew my lease.

I am currently going to be teaching Wednesdays from 5 - 9 PM in my garage. I am in the 91709 zipcode in Chino Hills, California. I will teach two hours of my empty handed blend (JKD, Thai Boxing, Wing Chun, Silat, Savate, Mixed Grappling) and two hours of FMA (Inosnato/LaCoste and DBMA).

If you are local, and you would like to train, please send me a message at stoopsmartialarts@gmail.com and I will send you the details.

GD

Good to hear from you, KD. I miss you, Brother!

Grateful for a training session last night that taxed me.

Grateful to know I will meet a deadline.

Grateful for the possibility of relief in one life area.

Grateful to finish a task yesterday.