The next test...

I'll be testing for 3rd Kyu in Aikido next month. With all the time I'd spent going to classes for Ninpo Chuan Fa, I still made time to train at least once a week with Jack for Aikido.

The material keeps coming pretty easy for me, and I'm still enjoying what I'm learning. While it's been a lot to kind of re-learn Ninpo Chuan Fa while learning Aikido, it's been a lot of fun for this martial arts geek.

Hoping to meet with John this week to see what we can do to get our classes going again. This fall we'll look to find a way to sync up our schedules and see what we can go forward with, whether doing a kids class is an option, and possibly a seperate Tai Chi class. I'd especially love to see the Tai Chi class go forward again, as John was especially good at teaching it.

We have lots of leeway with the space at WREN, which has been an excellent place for us to practice and hold class, even while sharing the space with many other groups that take advantage of the space. Also been told that the "rent" for the space has gone down considerably, from 40% to 25% of what John would make teaching there.

Also, we were able to move a metal locker that we can keep our own equipment in with a lock now. I lent it to a friend who wrote/produced/directed a play that's now being shown in the old Church section. After he's done, John and I can use it for whatever we want kept in there.

More good stuff coming...

Hybrid

I got my 2003 Pontiac Vibe  eight years ago. It had all-wheel-drive and had back seats that folded down to create a flat, plastic surface for some excellent storage if I wanted to carry a bunch of stuff. I was even able to to carry two 5x10 rolled up martial arts mats.

This vehicle transported me back and forth two and half hours away ever week for over a year and a half while I was in Paramedic school, with very few issues

Lately, though, it started to have a few issues, and having paid it off four years ago, I was starting to do the math of how much money I was willing to put into a vehicle I wasn't going to keep another couple years.

So it was time for something new. I wanted to keep that same storage capacity, or something similar to that, with either really good fuel economy or another AWD. Test drove a couple vehicles (always fun), and settled on a 2010 Honda Insight.

The seats fold down flat, has decent cargo space, and it'll get me an average 40-45 mpg overall, strangely enough the same mpg I get on my Honda VTX 1300! So far I'm enjoying the new ride. The true test will be this winter, whether I really miss the AWD or not. If I don't like it this winter, I'll trade it in for something else next year.

My hippy friends are applauding this move, while my anti-hippy friends are spouting off South Park quotes like "Good for yooooouuuuuuuu"!!!... to which I reply "Thaaaaannnnnnks"!

the Future?

A few weeks back we cancelled our classes due to John's schedule. Our classes were on Monday and Wednesdays evenings. John's new job has him working Sundays through Wednesdays, so that schedule is out.

The last week we worked out, it was just myself, Tim and his son Erik. Tim had brought in an old hand written notebook of material from way back, with descriptions of how to do many of our combinations and forms. Since then Tim has scanned the book and emailed it to me. Going to type it up our core group can all have a copy.

I met with the manager of the WREN building where we train, and we can use the space Thurs-Sat for the classes. She had reservations about us using Thursday evenings, but she's over that now, and she's hoping we can start the program again soon.

Now I just have to meet with John and plan out what times we can meet again. He's been busy with the new job, settling in and all, but hopefully we can continue our program again, possibly with a separate Tai Chi class taught by John, and a kids program, headed up by myself, with John's occasional assistance.

Who knows? I'm just hoping we can continue. Training again with John and Tim over the past few months has been an excellent time.