Dog Brothers Public Forum

Grateful something is almost finished.

Guro Lonely,

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

Your Friend,

GD

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

No, this is a reasonable discussion!    I demand that you disagree with me!    I don't come onto the internet for reasonable debate! 

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? 

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.

Regarding not being able to make a specific Gathering, sorry, but shit happens. If something is important enough to you, you will find a way. Hawaii doesn't have 2 official Ironman's because some people can't fly out there in a certain month. If you want to do it you plan accordingly. Life does sometimes get in the way, like weddings, deployments, etc. C'est la vie. Practice your art, sharpen your blade and surprise people even more at the next one. Having people spend some time between Gatherings (with the assumption that skills are improving in between and people are working towards a goal)  is beneficial so that when fighters become part of the tribe there is a certain "quality control". Time alone does not assure this, but lack of time will certainly not help quality control. Things worth having need to be earned. What's the hurry?

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.

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."

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

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!

Grateful for GD keeping this thread alive. Grateful the clock's still ticking.

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

Grateful for a training session last night that taxed me.

Grateful for the possibility of relief in one life area.

Grateful for movement on several planes.

Grateful for a new avenue of personal development.

Sometimes, when life is busy, or hard, it's easy to lose sight of where you are at. I was watching some DBMA DVD's last night, and it occurred to me how much GC, Top Dog, Ajarn Salty, Pappy Dog (Now Tuhon Pappy as I read on FB ), Guro Lonely, the original DB's, the fighters from the early days before the DB's were the DB's, and many more truly pioneered and paved the way for what we have today.

I was simply sitting on my living room floor, watching the DVD with my family all around me asleep on the sofas in the room, when I realized just how lucky I am to be a DB. Externally, it was just a short guy sitting on the floor, watching the TV. Internally, it was a PROFOUNDLY deep moment of pride and gratitude to be associated with such amazing people.

Grateful for the approaching routine and order of the 2012-2013 year.

Grateful to be reminded that in martial arts, I have made true friends. Even if I only see those friends a few times a year, I m grateful that they are out there.

Last night, I taught some FMA material for the last 15 minutes of class in Sifu Tim Tackett's garage. Sifu Tim had nothing but kind words for you, Guro Crafty, as well as Top Dog.

Prayers for those injured/killed in Colorado.

Grateful for passing a test of some importance.

Prayers for a particular result.

Grateful for the summer.

Grateful to hear from KD.
Grateful for some time with my kids.

Grateful for a nice, simple resolution to a minor matter.

Grateful to greet June.

Grateful for a full day of teaching material I truly love.

Grateful for endings.