Junauro Landgrebe: Personal Achievement - Mt. Washington Hike

    Took the boys up Mt. Washington for an overnight trip this past August.  Had to skip it the year before since I was still recovering from a ruptured achilles tendon in January 2013.  We had superb weather and it was a great experience as it marked what I consider the final chapter on the road to full rehabilitation for my ruptured achilles.  Furthermore, I love being outdoors especially with my two boys and was very happy to have the opportunity to get away from things for a day.

    The trip began at 6 am with the three of us piling into the car after I asked the boys if they had everything.  Packing took place the night before and the boys typically do a great job gathering everything they personally need for trips like this.  I don’t even think twice about it since they’re both Boy Scouts and have done these trips numerous times.  So the next morning we drove off after one final check.  Both boys fell asleep and it was around 8 after making a quick pitstop that Jake said in despair, “Dad, did you pack my hiking boots?”  to which I responded, “No. You didn’t put them in the car like I asked you to?”  Two hours into an almost 4 hour car drive to the trailhead and my oldest has flip flops to hike up Mt. Washington!  I was annoyed to put it mildly…

    That’s when the gps came to the rescue and I was able to find a Walmart on route.  We stopped, bought boots, and continued driving to the trailhead….whew!!  We arrived at the Pinkham Visitor Center later than planned around 10:30 am.  When we got out of the car I said, “get your boots on and grab your packs.”  It was at that time that Jordan (my youngest) said, “dad, where are my boots, didn’t you put them in the car?”  To which I said, “are you bleepin kidding me??”  He forgot his boots too!!  I was so mad at that point and was debating whether or not to scrap the trip altogether.  Within a minute or so, I angrily told the two of them to find out how much boots cost at the visitor center and to see if they even had Jordan’s size.  As I waited for them to return I searched the gps and found another Walmart 19 miles away.  To my surprise they returned with some good news:  the visitor center has a boot loaner program allowing hikers to try out high end boots for free -  I couldn’t believe it!!  My mood changed from disbelief and anger to relief and excitement as we geared up and hit the trail.
 
    We began our ascent from the Pinkham Visitor Center on Tuckerman’s Ravine trail.  We climbed 1,700 feet in 2.5 miles and arrived at the Hermit’s Lake campsite where we dropped our packs at one of the 12 lean tos.  We continued hiking the remaining 2 miles up Eagles Head trail and summited Mt. Washington around 4 pm. 

 (1000 feet to go…almost to the summit!!)

 (At the summit!)

    The trip turned out to be a great success despite the initial hiccups.   I really love being outdoors with my boys and it dawned on me that these trips may become fewer and fewer as the boys get older.  I hope this isn’t the case but they’re getting busier and busier every summer.  The initial difficulties with the boys forgetting their hiking boots helped remind me that a problem is just something that requires mindful consideration and patience to find a solution.  The boys found a solution to not bringing their hiking boots and hopefully realize that they need to be more attentive even when they’re tired.  I realize that they’re still young and need some help keeping organized.  Overall, I feel like I handled the problem reasonably well considering the circumstances.  Furthermore, martial arts has helped me find balance and react less emotionally when things get difficult.  Something I’m grateful to have gained.

    One of the bigger aspects of the trip was the sense of accomplishment I feel being able to hike up Mt. Washington after going through a very long recovery with my achilles.  I’ve never had an injury take 9 months to fully recover.  Some people give up doing active things like martial arts and strenuous hikes after sustaining an injury like this.  I feel great about pushing myself through the obstacles, doing all the physical therapy, and getting back into the dojo.  The mastery program has been an integral part of my recovery and the hike up Mt. Washington was truly a great personal goal I feel very proud accomplishing.  I wasn’t sure I would return to karate after the injury, but can say doing so significantly helped me recover both physically and mentally. 

Olivias FINAL post (maybe) 8/18

So I reading Savor. Almost done with it in fact. And let me tell you, hat is one of the driest books I've ever rad. I mean, It is really difficult to get thru, and I love to read. Tough, to be honest I prefer fantasy and fiction in general, and this is far from that. I don’t find the subject of food and healthy eating to be particularly engaging in the first place, but I feel that this book was almost written in such a way as to deter any but the most dedicated and diligent writers. But once I get around my feelings for this book, I can find interesting facts and tidbits in it. Little things that allow me to be able to concentrate on it, and comprehend what it’s trying to tell me. So those are my thoughts on Savor.

I also need to write about how my mending a relationship is going, so might as well do that now. I am trying to improve my relationship with my brother. Everyone tells me that I am super hard on him, and mean to him, and I’ve sometimes been able to recognize that, but mostly I just treat him without a second thought to it, just doing what I feel is natural. For this I’ve had several repercussions by my parents who don’t like me treating him like that or speaking to him in that voice. It also hurts him a lot, and makes him sometimes very wary of me. This is really bad, because though I don’t realize I’m hurting him a lot, I am. I want my treatment of him to get better, which is why I’m trying to improve my relationship with him. It is and always will be a work in progress, but I feel that over the course of the year my treatment of him has gotten significantly better.

In addition, I got to talk about my acts of kindness. I’ve been doing at least three a day, but I’ve fallen behind on logging them. It’s not that I’ve had tons of stuff happening, it’s just that I’ve been forgetting to write them down. So I’ve got to work on that. See if I can remember any and write them down, as well as writing down my current ones. But I have without fail been doing them. In fact, theres this one that Ive done every day for the entire school year. See, on a regular school day, I'm veeeery crabby in the morning. But this year, I made it a constant act of kindness to my family to be cheerful and happy in the morning. And I DID IT EVERY SINGLE MORNING. I am very proud of myself, because it also helps me exercise self control, and I appreciate anything that helps me become better at controlling myself..

Jake's Final Blog Post

I do not expect every one of you to read this fully, for it is a long post, but I would appreciate it if you did. Thanks!

Well, the final day of the mastery program is upon us. Tomorrow will be August 16th, 2014, which is one year after I recorded my first good deed. One year after I wrote my first blogpost, my first goal, and recorded my first sparring minutes. As sensei tells us, how awesome would it be to say, "I got my black belt, but from 8 years of intense training, and a year long mastery program with these requirements.."

Most of you who have done the requirements should now realize, you have done ALL of those push-ups. You have done ALL of those good turns. YOU have done ALL of what it takes to complete this program. And I congratulate you.

I wanted to thank each and every one of you for taking part in this with me, this experience has truly been eye opening, and I am extremely glad that I was able to complete this with you guys.

Now I would like to summarize my good deeds. Every week, I had to perform 20 good deeds, no matter how big or how small. At the beginning of this program, I was merely doing these good deeds without intent, just knowing that I had to complete them in order to fulfill the requirements of the mastery program. However about 2 months into it, I had discovered how happy these good deeds actually made people. One time, I held a door for a family of 5, and the father shook my hand saying I was being a great influence on my generation in the community. I was shocked. After that moment, I began doing these good deeds from my heart, realizing that not just me, but anyone can make a difference by lending a hand, holding a door, and much more. Now not every week was exactly 20. Some weeks it went down to 17, for various reasons. When this happened, I made it my weekly goal to make up those lost good deeds along with the other 20 I had to complete, no excuses. By doing this I was able to keep up my good deeds throughout the year, and now I am proud to say that I have completed 1000 good deeds over the course of this year.

The hardest part of this program in my opinion, was the physical requirements. Now most of you would wonder, really? This is karate it's mainly physical! Yes, this is true, but I have horrible organizational skills, or should I say "had". Having to do 100 push-ups AND sit-ups, 14 pull-ups, 28 squats, and all of my forms 3 times a week or more, is very hard to suddenly fit into your schedule. I very quickly learned that I had to get with it, or else I would have a huge debt of exercises to complete. So thus, my organizational and scheduling skills increased quickly. Now I know that all of you know the numbers, but for documentation sake, I am incredibly proud of myself in that I was able to do 36,500 push-ups AND sit-ups, 5000 pull-ups, and 10,000 squats throughout this year, along with 150 repetitions of each learned form.

Righting one wrong was an interesting experience. It was awkward, it felt off, and it was difficult. If some of you don't know, talking to your ex can be a very weird situation. Not only does it make you feel weird as you talk to him/her, but it just doesn't feel right. At the end of our conversation, everything felt right, because I was able to apologize and own up to my mistakes, of which she accepted my apology fully.

Together, my father and I were able to raise over 400 dollars for the Alabama project, but unfortunately were not able to participate last year. I hope to join the other participants this year, because I have heard so many great things about it.

In my recent blog posts, I had profiled 3 living heroes. Those individuals were Nicholas Vujicic, Dave Grohl, and Shaun White. I won't go into detail, but I had described why each of them were living heroes to me, and how they had impacted the world.

Earlier in the year, I had achieved my 3 personal victories. They are also in blog posts, but not as recent. I again won't go into detail, so if you want to see those, you can scroll down the numerous blog posts of this program to find them.

At the moment I am reading Zen in the Martial Arts, which is the required reading for the program, and I will complete it by tomorrow. So far I find it incredibly educational, but not in a bad way. I am already beginning to internalize some of the lessons from the book to be used in my own daily life.

And finally, I have had to maintain a public journal (this blog) for the year. Updated at least once a week. At the beginning of the program, I did not do well with this at all. It was to the point where sensei eventually emailed all of us, telling us to step up our game, with no excuses to not blog. From then on I got a little better at being on time, yet there was still some holes in my performance. I would miss a week, or two occasionally, which was not acceptable. In the last 5 months, I believe I was able to maintain my blogging consistently, besides the 3 weeks in july when I was at camp. Now I find that blogging is a great source for letting out emotion and anything on your mind if you are willing to share it to the world.

Again, I wanted to thank each and every participant of this program for joining me on this journey. I was challenged greatly but also had tremendous amounts of fun at the same time. As the last day of the program approaches, I congratulate all of you, we made it.

- Jake Landgrebe

Living hero 8/9

Britney Gengel was a kind, caring, and loving student at Lynn University. She traveled to Haiti in 2010 to work for an aide group, and felt very passionate about the children there. Hours before her death, she texted her parents, saying that she would like to open a orphanage there, to even more help the orphans living there. Hours later, a giant earthquake hit Haiti, killing hundreds. For thirty three days, Britney’s family  waited for news, and finally, they got it. Britney was dead. After grieving, the Gengles decided to make sure Britney’s memory would never be forgotten. With Brit in mind, her parents created the be like Brit foundation, a foundation to raise money to build an orphanage for kids at Haiti. The building was finally completed in 2012, thanks to all the donations sent in by millions of people. It houses 33 boys and 33 girls.

So this entire thing, I felt was really amazing, and I believe that Brit’s parents deserve to be named Living heroes because of it. To go from grieving or your daughter to building in orphanage in her honor, well that’s pretty amazing.

Jake Living Hero Blog Post 3

My 3rd and final living hero is Shaun White. Shaun was born in San Diego, California on September 3rd, 1986. Before I get into all of his life achievements, I want to say that Shaun White was dedicated to the point that nothing could alter his passion for snowboarding/skateboarding. He was born with a Tetralogy of Fallot, which is a congenial heart defect. White had to go through 2 open heart surgeries before he was the age of 1. At the age of 6, which took after his older brother and switched from skiing to snowboarding. Immediately he began to rise through the levels of competition and advancement in his skill, and while he was snowboarding he was also skateboarding. By the age of 9 he met Tony Hawk. Tony took him under his wing and by 17 Shaun was a pro at skateboarding. With his snowboarding, he had received his first sponsorship by the age of 7, and to this day he has 25 medals hanging from his neck. He has 2 gold from the olympics, 13 gold, 3 silver, and 2  bronze from the winter x games, and 2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze from the x games. Shaun inspired me to pursue my passion of snowboarding, and now I consider myself a decently skilled snowboarder. I may not be able to ride every rail at the terrain park, but I know how to get myself around. I remember whenever I thought of the winter olympic games, I thought of Shaun. I consider Shaun a living hero because he was able to stay dedicated to something he was passionate about and now has proof of his success in medals and skill.

Jake Living Hero Blog Post 2

My second living hero is a man named Dave Grohl. If some of you do not know much about him, Dave Grohl is the lead singer/guitarist in the Foo Fighters, and was originally the drummer of Nirvana. Dave was born in Warren, Ohio on January 14th, 1969. I believe he is a living hero because during his time in Nirvana, the lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide and had further broken up the band. Every band member was in pieces for a long time, except for Dave. What Dave did, was began writing music, and creating songs, to overcome the mental obstacle of the absence of his dear friend Kurt. Now, Dave is very successful. He has left his mark on the world of how anyone can come out of the dark and be incredibly successful afterwards. And not only did he leave his mark on the world, but he inspired me to become a better musician with the course of musical education I have chosen.

update 8/5

LOTS OF STUFF IS HAPPENING!
 So this is a super duper mega exciting week! Like I cant even contain my excitement I might even explode! So anyways, yesterday I got my hair dyed, which is a SUPER big thing! I have ben talking about getting it done for about a year niw, and have devoted countless hours to surfing th web and chasing good dyeing ideas. I finally setteled on an even shorter cut, with jagged edges, and a blue to red streak. I LOVE IT!!! it makes me sososososo very happy. In addition to that I might be going to comic con next week, so I'm flipping out over that. I mean, I'm a huuuuge geek, and John Barrowman, captain Jack from Doctor Who, ya that dude, will BE THERE! In PERSON!! Like whaaaaat!!!!!! Anyway, in addition to that I've got camp for the next two weeks, at Walnut hill. Its a pretty chill camp, and I like it a lot. Ummmmm, yeah, I believe that's all for the moment, but its all so freaking exciting!

Jake Living Hero Blog Post 1

My living hero's name is Nicolas Vujicic. He is an Australian motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, which is characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He's been traveling around visiting high schools and colleges speaking to audiences about struggling with disabilities and how it impacted his life and still continues to impact other student's lives around the world. He also spoke about how he was able to overcome his disability, and now has a wife and a double bachelor's degree in  accounting and financial planning at Griffith University. I believe this man is a living hero because he was able to get past a massive obstacle in his life, which was mental and physical, and now inspires others to climb over their obstacles by speaking to them publicly at large gatherings.

Nick once said, “Life isn't about having, it's about being. You could surround yourself with all that money can buy, and you'd still be as miserable as a human can be. I know people with perfect bodies who don't have half the happiness I've found. On my journeys I've seen more joy in the slums of Mumbai and the orphanages of Africa than in wealthy gated communities and on sprawling estates worth millions. Why is that? You'll find contentment when your talents and passion are completely engaged, in full force. Recognize instant self-gratification for what it is. Resist the temptation to grab for material objects like the perfect house, the coolest clothes or the hottest car. The if I just had X, I would be happy syndrome is a mass delusion. When you look for happiness in mere objects, they are never enough. Look around. Look within.”

I truly believe that Nick is a living hero, for he has accomplished so much in the first 33 years of his life.

New stuff/Oregon trip. Chelsea H.

Finally, I'm back from my vacation in Oregon and hopefully will be staying put in MA for a while. Ever since May it's been a bit hectic being away so much. I realized I've been away for a little over 6 weeks total since mid May. I feel a bit rusty at the dojo even though I kept up a practice routine but I'm sure my fellow students will get me back to speed in no time.

I had an awesome time in Oregon! I climbed mountains, walked the desert, hugged a giant redwood tree, kayaked 6 miles down some really scary yet exillerating rapids, lifted and busted big rocks, walked around in thigh high fast moving streams looking for cool rocks/gems (a good stance is handy for more than fighting it seems!) Had some great bonding time with my husband and our friends and saw some of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen.

The best part? I had the strength and energy to do all this stuff!!! I was amazed at how many times I did something really rigorous and wasn't tired or sore! Also another cool thing? How many times I used a technique from training in traversing the terrain. A strong balanced stance in the fast water, using tiger crawl to climb back up a steep mountainside "trail", conserving my energy and knowing when it was appropriate and how. Woohoo! What a great show of proof for myself that all the small routines and exercises really do add up!

Thanks everyone for helping me become a better martial artist and person. I look forward to seeing how much we all continue to grow in time

Favorite act of kindness gifted to me this week: My husband taking our dog for her walk when I was busy at the moment.
Favorite act of kindness this week: buying more suet for the birds

The Last 4 Weeks/Living Heroes

  The last four weeks I was at sleepaway camp in Maine. It was my third summer there, and this year I decided to do a program called Junior Maine Guide. I spent the first 3 weeks studying for it, chopping wood, canoeing, memorizing a map of Maine, learning first aid how to use compass, and various other wilderness skills. The last week I spent at test camp, with JMG candidates from 10 other camps. There are 21 tests I had to take, 11 majors and 10 minors. We stayed in tents and cooked every meal, and were tested on every meal. This past week was probably one of the hardest of my life, but also one of the best. To complete the JMG program was one of my goals for the Mastery Program, and I am glad that I made it through. Not a lot of campers pass on their first year, and I am really proud of myself because I did. I did a lot better than I expected. I think one of the reasons for this is because of something I learned at karate, which I kept in my mind during these tests. Sensei always says, if you mess up, mess up with power. Mess up with confidence. During my physical and oral tests, I kept my confidence, so even when I didn't know the answer, it at least looked like I knew what I was doing. 
  The only reason I passed ANY of the tests was thanks to one of my living heroes, K Buldoc. K preps the JMG's for test camp, and she's one of the testers at test camp. Thank goodness I couldn't have her, because she's a strict tester. But she's also one of the nicest people I know. K started going to sleepaway camp at age 7, and she did the JMG program in 2 years. Then she became a Maine Guide as an adult, which is a much harder version of JMG. She's been a Maine Guide since then, and is one of the few Master Maine Guides alive today. She's also almost completely blind. It is insane to watch her chop wood- she'll reach out and feel it, raise the axe, and split it right in half better than any seeing person I've ever met. Canoeing with her: she'll tell you you're doing the stroke wrong, and how to correct it, and you're just like "how can you tell"- she can feel the difference in the way the boat is moving. A brain tumor caused her to lose all of her sight in one eye, and almost all sight in the other. She has to use sticks to walk so she doesn't walk into anything, yet she still leads all of our prep trips, and brings us to test camp. She hasn't let her lack of sight slow her down in any way, and I think that makes her very admirable. I certainly owe my JMG certification to her. 
  Can't wait to see everyone! I've missed the dojo so much. See you Tuesday!! :)

JMG CANDIDATES - 2014

check up 7/27

Update on The mastery team, and how its going for me so far.
    Non Physical requirements:
I have read the amazing book Zen in the Martial arts, and wrote a blog post raving about it. I have completed three out of three personal goals (adding more cardio to my life, performing my fan form in a tournament, and leaving a smaller carbon foot print.) I've done blog posts for two living heroes, the dogs helping with the 911 search and cleanup, and Louis Zamperini. I've blogged roughly every week. I have raised over $600 for Alabama
     Physical Requirements:
I've practiced my forms. I've done 100 push ups and sit ups every day. I've done 25 squat jacks, and 15 pull ups each day as well. I have worked hard to learn all of the moves that are required of my if I am to reach black belt. That means I need to memorize the whole curriculum. I'm pretty sure I got it down, fingers crossed.
Anyway, the provocation or this log post is simply that the Mastery program/year long black belt test is drawing to a close, quit soon in fact. In the middle of august, I believe. So I thought I would reflect back and see just what I've done, and what I need to do.

living Hero 7/24

Louis Zamperini was born in Olean, Ne York on  January 26, 1917. After Louis developed Pneumonia in 1919, his family moved to Torrance, California, where Louis would live till he got drafted as an airman in the army. Once in the army, Louis manned a gun aboard the plane Super Man. After a battle, the Super Man was in no shape to fly. In need of a plane, the team was assigned to an undependable plane called the Green Hornet. Sure enough, Louis was in the middle of a rescue mission when his plane crashed into the ocean. Only two other crewmen survived, Russell Allen Phillips "Phil" and Francis McNamara "Mac". They ended up floating for forty-seven days, during which they survived on a few fish, and the birds that landed on the two rafts. Mac died during this journey. Louis and Phil were slowly starving to death, and it was a miracle they had survived for as long as they did. After being captured, they were sent to many prison and punishment camps. The camps were horrible terrible places, where they had almost no food, and were worked ruthlessly day after day after day. Louis in particular was picked on, by a brutal tyrant called The Bird. Finally, Louis was set free when the war ended.

But this is not the only reason that I consider Louis Zamperini to be a hero. The thing is, after he survived all this torcher, he went through a span of depression, alcoholism, so severe he almost killed himself several times, and threatened his marriage. Its amazing, though because he got a grip on himself and raised himself from perdition. He did this by attending several sermons in L.A. After this he started to toar the world, speaking of his experience. He also started a camp for juvenile delinquent boys. he got countless medels for his efforts, and was praised almost every day. Louis passed away just last week, after leading an extremely inspirational and active life.

I found out about him by a required reading book, Unbroken, By Laura Hillenbrand. I would recommend it to anyone.

Living heroes 7/9 olivia

   There are heroes that everyone remembers. Firefighters who lost their lives saving others. men fighting in the army for our country. But there are other heroes who slip under our radar. Quite literally in fact.
   In 9/11, 40,000 people helped with the clean up and immediate response, and got universally recognized for their efforts. Every year we see blog posts and newspaper articles about those people. But even those people had help. You see, just as the police use guard dogs, and blind people use guide dogs, the rescue people used the rescue and cadaver dogs. And people never gave these animals much recognition. 
   I never even knew that there were dogs used in the rescue attempts until this year, when I stumbled upon an article listing some unknown heroes and their accomplishments. The 9/11 dogs were on that list, and I decided to research them further. As it turns out, there was one dog force, called Operation Nobel Eagle.

This was in the care of Officer Jim Lugaila from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. He had been a dog handler since 1988, and had a lot of experience. He brought a workforce of cadaver dogs, who are trained to compare odors in order to find human remains, sometimes no larger than a dime. These dogs were implemented into teams that mostly worked eight- to ten-hour shifts, twenty minutes on, twenty minutes off. After the dogs were done searching, they would be watered down and taken to a park area where the handler and the dog could cool off.  The dogs were washed and visited by a vet tech for a medical exam. These dogs worked more than most of the humans. They were constantly out there, often going into more dangerous places than humans dared to tread. And because they were dogs they asked no recognition, and were overlooked in favor of the many human heroes in those rescue attempt.

So ya, these are one of my three heroes. They are dogs, I hope thats okay. But I truly believe they were heroes.

Jake blog post 7/6/14

This week, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about potential. She believes that many people do not see their own potential and spend most of their time not trying to reach their fullest potential. I completely agree with her, because I have a decent amount of friends who just don't see the kind of impact they can have on the world. On a side note, I'm currently on my way to summer camp! Really excited about that. I'll be back on Saturday, then I'll be leaving again on Sunday for another week, and this repeats one more time after that. So 3 weeks total! I'll blog when I get back, have a great week everyone!

Zen. Olivia 7/3

      So. I just read one of the most inspirational and thought-provoking books of my entire life, and maybe of anyone's life ever in the history of the world. Zen in the Martial Arts, by Joe Hyams. It is an amazing book, full of important messages and priceless tidbits of advice, on how to better yourself as a martial artist. But the book is not just about the Martial Arts. Its also how to transfer your martial arts learning to your everyday life. I was so amazed by this book, that I went around on the internet to ind out what others had to say about it. Lo and behold, I found this entry in Wikipedia (Under Joe Hyams):
     
 "His 1979 book Zen in the Martial Arts was built on his many years of studying martial arts with such figures as Bong Soo Han, Bruce Lee, and Ed Parker. He first became involved in the martial arts during his wartime service in the US Army, when he was regularly beaten up for being Jewish. After the war he became a student of kenpo karate and studiedJeet Kune Do with Bruce Lee, as well as becoming proficient in eight other martial arts disciplines. ^[3] Melissa Hyams said the slim book "isn't really about martial arts. It's about life and philosophy, and how to turn a negative into a positive, how to defuse a situation by the way you handle it. That's what he'll most be remembered for." ^[4]"

I found that this passage beautifully describes the book, and leaves me with very little writing left to do. However, I am still digesting the book in my mind, and haven't fully processed everything it has to say. I think I will read it again, in order to better understand it.  Until next time, Olivia

Willingness. Chelsea H.

These 2 weeks as I've been away improving myself I have been taught something I always knew but did not believe/understand/accept which is everything I do is a choice and that every choice affects myself and my world/relationships. It can further set balance or unbalance. In my past I felt some of my behaviors were excusable or unavoidable,that I had no control and therefore I should have not been held accountable/faced consequences. Everything we do has a consequence. As Rafiki from the Lion King says "Oh yes, the past can hurt.. but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it!" In order to learn one must be willing to. Without willingness a person may stay stagnant preventing improvement and growth. Change/new things/ can be really scary but when one is willing to "prune the branches" of their life it gives way for what can be beautiful growth. Im slowly starting to learn there is no failure, only an opportunity for learning and improvement if I am willing.

My favorite act of kindness this week: educating several medical personnel by being a subject for study and questioning.
My favorite act of kindness gifted to me this week: a person taking the time to listen and educate me about anything I cared to ask (that was awesome!)

Jake's Blog Post Saturday June 28th

About a week into summer vacation, I am completely relaxed. No tests or quizzes to stress about, no more homework, just time to myself and time with friends and family. I've been hanging out with friends, watching movies with my family, it's been great so far. However, in about a week, I'll be off to boy scout camp for 3 weeks, for I will be a CIT there with a couple of my friends. That will hopefully be the highlight of my summer, but I do not know if I will be able to blog during that time. This is  because campers are not allowed to use phones, and I am not sure if the rules are bent for the CITs. So if this is so, next week will be my last blog and I will make it up somehow in August. Have a great fourth of July everyone!

Schools out 6/26

Woo hoo! Schools out!!! Super psyched for the summer. I expect to have an awesome one. To kick off the summer, I had a giant party on the island. This is an island that my friend Lauren and I made a fort on last year, but we had no real plans and are not sure how structurally sound it is.... But when dressed up it looks pretty snazzy! Sorry, I couldn't find a photo on my computer to show you guys, so you will have to trust me on this! The party was awesome, and we headed out swimming after s'mores. What could be better? After that, I've stuck around the house. Basically, just going swimming and biking and binge watching supernatural. But later in the summer, I'm panning on building a tree house on one of the other two islands on the pond with Lauren. I'm also going to my cabin up in New Hampshire, which I go to every year. Besides that, not much else is happening, so yeah.

Mental elasticity and toughness. Chelsea H.

Sometimes I feel I focus on the physical aspects of training that I neglect the chance for opportunities to learn mental skills in the dojo as well as in my personal life. Some of you may have noticed I am away yet again ( I miss yall so much!) These 2 weeks I am away I have and will continue to be focusing and practicing refocusing certain ways I think and act to enhance my life and interactions with others. I really look forward to getting back to the dojo and getting to train with everyone once again. My internet access at my current location is kinda limited so unfortunately I am having to rush this weeks entry but am staying steady keeping up with physical requirements (even climbed some big rocks).

My favorite act of kindness: opening a tightly shut jar for someone
My favorite act of kindness given to me: a positive email of encouragement sent my way.

Jason Mai 6/21/14

Jason Mai
6/21/14

     This blog post I want to talk about self defense, and what self defense means to me. Now we always talk about self defense in class as eating right, treating your body right etc etc. But today I want to talk about real self defense, physical self defense from an attacker with intent to cause harm to you. Now when I talk about this subject with people, people always think I'm paranoid, think I'm crazy, but at the end of the day, it is a thousand times better to think of these things before and have them, instead of dealing with them later. I would rather have thought of what to do if someone came at me with a knife instead of after I have just been stabbed and hospitalized, I know what you are thinking right now, that is crazy talk. It might be, but it's talk that will keep me alert and bring me back home to my family and friends.
     The first thing people will say about self defense that I always hear from people is "You will never need to use it, you live in Wayland." When people say that I kinda go, "Yup, you are right buuuut" firstly you don't always stay in Wayland, what if you go to that concert in Cambridge? another that is that because we live in a world, where anything can happen, at any time, to anyone. I might live in a good neighborhood, and yes my chances of having to defend myself is slim but guess what, there was a murder a few years ago on my street. A man killed his girlfriend with a knife, it was a hate crime. These are the things that keep me on edge, because we do live in a dangerous world that many seem to forget.
     The few things I think of in self defense situations are, intent, alertness, fitness, and how far you are willing to go.
     First thing is intent, if someone attacks you, you must have 100% intent in achieving your goal, no matter what it may be. It can be as easy as intent to run away, to as extreme as the intent of taking someone's life. You don't have to like it, in fact you shouldn't like it, but if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Now this may seem harsh and brutal, but wait until I talk about how far you are willing to go, before you judge.
     Second thing in self defense situations you need to know is awareness (alertness). Is the guy sitting next to you uneasy, how is that guy looking at you as you take money out of the ATM. Basically awareness was pretty well summarized in the article about the girl who got stabbed. The few things I do to keep myself aware are simple, first identify your location, know where you are, know where certain places are if you need to run. This is good even if you don't need to defend yourself, just so you don't get hit by a car. Next you should identify people around you, is someone following you? Does someone look nervous? Do you hear shouting? Identify any threat, and be ready for it. Don't have headphones in, don't be checking your phone, but also don't be giving the potential attacker reason to think you are dangerous.
     Third thing is fitness, if you can't strike your way out of a wet paper bag you are done for. I don't care how trained you are, or how many YouTube videos you have watched. If you don't have intent and fitness you will not survive. Can you fight someone after having to run? Can you take on multiple opponents if needed? Can you survive a 5 minute fight with someone? Most will think "Oh I can do that, it's easy" but no, anyone who has ever been put in one of these high stress situations when you need to deal with emotions, stress, thinking about what you need to do, and doing it with intent, you will be tired.
     Now the last thing and probably the most controversial is how far you are willing to go. I suggest looking at your local self defense laws in the state, because yes I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6, but there is a limit and you need to recognize it. I don't want to kill a man who was just pushing me and I could of easily defused the situation however I also don't want to try to subdue a man with a knife if he can easily kill me. Once you look at your self defense laws and have a good understanding of what you can and cannot do (basically common sense) then start with a plan. Think of scenarios and how far are you willing to go? If someone is trying to kill you with a knife? If someone is trying to beat you with a stick? If someone breaks into your car? If someone has you at gunpoint. Think realistically, don't try to disarm someone with a gun to your head, if you can easily give him your money and run, it is not worth it. Self defense isn't about proving yourself, self defense is about getting home safe. It is always good to have a general understanding of how far you are willing to go, in different situations. However this does not mean to map out every single thing you do if this specific thing happens. I use to do that, but then I realized, a confrontation is always moving, it will not go your way, it will go however it wants and you must adapt. So don't see someone sketchy and be like "Okay as soon as he comes at me, I will block with my right, then come in with a jab, grab and take down." All these things will confuse you and distract you, Just have a general understanding of how far you are willing to go, then if it happens, don't think about it, do what you need to do. Let your inner animal take over as I like to think of it. Because if a school shooter came in and started shooting up my school and killing my friends, and I get close to him. I sure as hell will bit into his neck and kill him, if necessary.

     Last thing I want to mention before I finish this up, these things I say are in no means reasons to start fights or going looking for trouble just because you think you can handle it. At the end of the day the best self defense weapon is your head and your words. If you can defuse a situation with no one getting hurt, that is 100 times better than having to hurt someone. Avoid sketchy things, don't put yourself in situations where you will get attacked or hurt. Don't piss off the wrong people, don't hit on a girl whose boyfriend is a roid raged jacked 200lb man of steel. If you are smart enough, it is possible to go through life without ever having to fight, but sometimes it is inevitable, and when it is, that is when you must be ready.

Thanks to anyone who read this, haha.