The bamboo has withered.

The tanabata bamboo shoots are still in the dojo- still with a lot of ornaments hanging off of it. The leaves have long since fell off, and the shoots themselves are starting to go. In many ways, this is a good analogy of how I feel. In a couple weeks, everything will be different. Verizon Guy will move away, the school-time surge in attendance will happen, and the wave of rankings will begin again. We are already experiencing the other two, and I am not looking forward to it all. But I don't have a choice, do I? We cut this past monday, and I didn't do that well. I kept botching my rising cuts- I sent one goza over a building. Not my best moment, and I was very cranky from work too.

So this week we have been reviewing things for people's ranks. In aiki, we have been going over a lot of basics for blue...patch thingy...and that has been a welcome change from the onslaught of ikkajo techniques (which are confusing enough for the highest ranks, let alone the 90% of class that are beginners). It will be so long before I can get competent for nikyu anyway, so I figure that review is pretty much a forgone conclusion. Karate class, on the other hand, I could kill someone over. We are reviewing this one kid for brown belt, who I will call Lurch because he's the most boring kid on Earth. You can only put excitement in this kid with 100,000 volts. It frustrates me that the kid looks like he never enjoys it or is awake and yet he's made it this far. Yuh, I can see the kids really fearing and respecting him as a teacher. But what can you do? So, this kid will jump me in rank and enter the brownie camp where the kids mouth off and never practice.

I have been reviewing a lot in iai too. Mostly, I am passing on kumitachi to others. I plan on not being around on mondays for class much longer, so I have to make sure everyone is in a good position to work on their own. The class has simply gotten too big, and I think it might be a good idea to start turning people away. It's getting to the point where there is no space to cut, let alone walk. And I've noticed the average age has gotten much older...and the average conditioning has gotten much worse. I remember when I first started, I was the oldest kyu rank there. Now, I am probably the median age. Doc, Professional mom, little senseis' mom, and possibly Sneezy is over forty. One of my karate senseis just started iai again is close to forty. Then there is this new girl who's just out of high school. Goth kid is fourteen or so, and so is professional mom's son. In fact, the little senseis are the youngest in class (and yet they are shodans, go figure). Prince Valiant is a lost cause.

I have noticed so many changes- most of them not good ones. I don't know if I am becoming more aware now, or if things are getting worse. What's making it so frustrating is that I will have to cut down my attendance to once a week after chiro. college starts. I want to fell more positive about all of this before I leave.

Happy Tanabata

Today is Tanabata- the star festival, which happens every July 7th. Today was the first time the holiday landed on a class day since I've been taking class, and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to teach the kids some culture. I think culture of martial arts is important because without it, martial arts really wouldn't be "art".

I have fond memories of this day. This was the first holiday ( it was the first week) that I celebrated in Japan, now 6 years ago. How the time flies by. I don't now if any of them appreciated the name tags in Japanese I made for them or the origami that went with them, but they certainly appreciated the candy. I bought Japanese candy from the giant Wegman's and made dorayaki with nutella instead of traditional anko filling. One of the fuzzy head twins was having a bad day- sleepy and just over-all cranky- when I told him about the nutella, he went from cranky to happy in seconds. The kids were told to eat AFTER they changed, but it was like flies to flycatch tape. I saw Owl sneak a few candies in the folds of his gi.

So it was exhausting, and I think I'll start much earlier next year, but it was fun. Today was a quiet day though- not many kids. The class is experiencing its usual shrink during the summer months. I found out Owl is moving away too. That leaves a lot of "wiggle room" at the top kyu ranks.