Wow the first seminar I will host is coming up fast. Just a few weeks away.
Working through all the logistics and getting everything together has been exciting. Finding a great venue, lining up hotels, transportation, and other logistics are things I’ve not done much for other people. Traveling the world for work I’ve done plenty for myself and worked many an event but never hosted one myself. I have tried to use my experiences to keep everyone informed and coordinated. Things are falling in line in those ways. S’all good.
Reflecting upon the journey I’ve been on to get to the point where I’m hosting a seminar amazes me. I was fascinated with martial arts, yes me grasshopper, from a very young age. Being that I was spectacularly shy I never pursued anything until after college graduation. Apparently having time and some money led me to try first Aikido then Taekwondo. My intention was to get a black belt because that meant you knew “stuff” right? A job change led me to South Carolina and while visiting many schools of many types and finding them more focused on money or sport I was still searching when a now good friend tried to talk me into going down to the place he trained. Yes Sid I’m talking about you! I resisted for a while as “we train in a garage converted to a dojo” that belongs to a guy that trains in another system sounded kind of goofy to me. Alas I succumbed to his offer and went to class. That first night hooked me and now over twenty years later, four trips to Okinawa, traveling around the country for seminars I find myself hosting a seminar. It was never me dream to teach let alone run a dojo. I am just a student. I teach because of the obligation I feel towards my instructors that simply requested I help keep the art alive. Don’t get me wrong. I have quite a healthy ego in many areas but find that studying this art has made me more humble than I’ve ever been before.
Just some ramblings but it has been so long since I said I would blog and only made one entry I thought it was time. There will be more after the seminar and hopefully in the future.
I have made some great friends along this journey and expect to make more…