Ahhh! They're multiplying!

There are now two more kids in iai- a goth kid, and another cigarette smoker. I came to class early- senseis hadn't arrived so we were locked out. There was this guy buzzing around, and in the ten minutes it took to open the place, the guy sucked down three cigarettes. I figured he can't be doing karate. Anyways, he and goth kid bonded. We were sparring with our goshinken sticks, and I overhear- "Yeah, a naginata, that's like a Sepheroth sword." I dunno which one said it, but when I find out I'm gonna punch him. It's hard enough to be a young kid in iai. Why don't you write in big red bold letters- I BELIEVE EVERYTHING I SEE ON TV AND THE INTERNET - to your forehead while you're at it? And then they got talking about how they too have "sparred" with bokkens and stuff with their equally stupid stick buddies, and then the cigarette guy asks what a shinai is supposed to be used for. You have no problem beating your friends with it, but you don't know what it's used for? Arghhh! No more Nerdverds, please!

Bork! Another roll call.

I'm having a terrible time trying to concentrate on school and martial arts. I have no money, no social life, and I'm constantly getting into fights over my future with the family. On top of that, it turns out I could be really sick. More on that later.

I've decided I need to update the class roster, since I am anticipating a huge turnover in the next month or so. Everyone is getting on everyone's nerves in karate and I don't think too many people are going to survive if the class keeps ballooning and people don't shut up. So, here goes;

Karate

• brown belts- Prince Valiant (10-ish) is now the highest ranking kyu in the class (with two stripes), and will probably make junior sho-dan by April of next year. Three others are also brown belts- they don't have nicknames, really. One is the only female kyu that outranks me, and two are 13 year old boys.
• Purple- There is Purple belt girl, who is called that because she's been the same rank of purple with stripe for two years. There are two more in the same rank, Wheezy Kid and another who have become so annoying that they are interchangable to me. The only regular purple belt is Verizon guy.
• Green- I am the oldest green with stripe, after that is Little T and some professional kid who's in a whole family of black belts. After that is Tank and a whole slew of horribly behaving green belts.
• Orange- Big T, a pair of twins, and a six year old.
• Yellow and white- So many little brats, it's crazy.

Total in karate class= approx. 30

Aiki

• Brown- two of my iai senseis
• Blue- Verizon guy, a karate sensei, and me.
• White- Cigarette man, Wally (if he comes back)

Total in aiki class= 8 or 9

Iai

• nikyu- little senseis
• sankyu- Prince Valiant
• Yonkyu- two guys without nicknames, Nerdverd, Cigarette Man
• Mu- Peanut, and a lady and her son.

Total in iai class= 10

Beagle-do- the art of persistance.

Peanut came back! Plus, we had two new people join iai- a mother and her son, who also study shotokan karate. The mother seems more into it than the kid. That brings our iai class up to 5 kids, and 4 adults (including me and excluding the senseis). That was about how big the class was when I started two years ago. Yesterday as I practiced, I thought about how many kids should have been sho-dans before me. Two people, Valleyboy and Prince Valiant (I call him that because of his haircut. He's the kid my mother wants to kidnap 'cause he's cute') started in class the same day I did. Today, Valleyboy has moved away to college and brown belt boy is occasionally in class. He recently got promoted to san-kyu in iai, but his attendance in karate and iai is so sporadic that it's hard to teach him anything. Before me were two others- the kid with the papparazzi dad and his blond friend, both quit. Also, there was the little senseis (before they were senseis, of course)- they have decided to concentrate on karate. Frankly, they have all the time in the world to reach sho-dan in iai, unless they quit when they're old enough to play football or something. The iai sensei that left a while back had a brother in the class that quit couple months after I joined. Since I joined, the only people to really stick around has been Nerdverd and Cigarette man. The latter had his wife in the class, but she dropped out too. Then there was that boy who came twice in his first month, once a month for three months after that, then not at all.

It is thinking about these people, and about my dog's eagerness to steal food, that remind me that skill is nothing without persistence. Here in the picture above is a blind beagle who did not let his vision impairment (or the fact he just ate) sway his desire to rip the bag open. I guess my beagle knows something of what I am talking about.