x-posted to muchimi

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Wow... It's really been forever.

I don't really know what happened.  I just suddenly... didn't feel like updating anymore.  It's funny, because a lot of very important things have happened in my martial life since I last posted...  I sparred all class for the first time, and didn't feel like a total idiot.  I went to my first "seminar" and expanded my idea of what martial arts and artists can be.  I went out for drinks with some of my senior, senior senpai and started to feel more like a real member of the dojo.  I got a new enthusiastic kouhai, (and took forever showing him how to tie his obi)!

I guess part of the reason why I haven't been posting is because I no longer have that bursting need to describe everything that happens at my dojo to everyone I know... I guess now that I have other outlets, like my dojo-mates and other friends interested in the arts, I don't feel as lonely in my obsession.  That's probably what it all boils down to.  I post when I'm lonely... and I've been lonely an awful lot this year.  Maybe it's getting better...?

Another reason I haven't been posting is because I kind of want to change the format of my posts.  Instead of just being a record of my training, I'd like to make them more like a series of essays on being a beginning karateka.  I mean, who wants to just read "Today we did elbow strikes!"  "Today we did knee strikes!"  "Today we did sanchin!" over and over again?  Of course, class is different every day, so it's not like any of my entries would be exactly the same... but by continuing to write the way I've been writing, I'm really sucking a lot of the depth out of my experiences.  My dojo, the people in it, and the experiences I have there are so much more than a list of events that I feel extremely shallow presenting them as such.

You know?