Spring and Everything Else

So it's official: spring has sprung. For those of you who've been in Alabama the weather has been in the 70s and sunny (except for one quick shower this morning). It's been blissful. Nature's way of rewarding us for a loooong winter. Yesterday I did a walk for homelessness, which was from the Natick Common to the high school and back. Then we went to a rowing regatta in Wayland (officially going to take up rowing. I don't know where though- Natick doesn't have a crew team.) When we got home, I stayed outside playing catch with my dad until the mosquitoes chased us in. Today I went for a run with my dad around Elm Bank during my sister's soccer practice. Then I climbed a tree. I just laid up there on the branch for a while looking at the clouds and it was really peaceful. After a crazy busy weekend, it was a moment when I could sit still and appreciate the great conditions. I think moments like that are important, because you have the chance to sit still and take a deep breath and appreciate the beauty around you. Okay. Thoughts on spring: check. Moving on. I have been thinking all week about my friends in Alabama. I can't wait to hear all about it (I can already tell I'll be really jealous. Next year for me.) My funding was kind of disappointing this year. I emailed my site to a bunch of people, and my mom posted it on her Facebook page, but I only got 2 donations. $40. Procrastination was killer for me this year. Definitely something to work on. I'm looking forward to vacation next week! I'll mostly be sticking around (gotta go to the marathon!) but I'm excited for some more breathing time to appreciate spring. 

Jake's Goals April 8th, 2014

I probably should have blogged about my goals a while ago, for a few of them are already completed, and one will be completed this Friday, April 11th. My first goal was to get a job, and as of last month, I am now a non-volunteer assistant instructor at the dojo, assisting classes on Monday, and Thursday. With that goal completed, I moved on to my next goal, which was receiving a B+ or higher in honors french by the 4th term. My final grade for honors french for the 3rd term was an A-, allowing me to check off that goal. My final goal, which is still yet to be completed, is to perform with my flowlights (those glow stick things) in front of a large audience. This Friday, at the annual NHS Talent Show, I will be performing in front of a hopefully large audience.

With that said, if you are available Friday night, please come down to the NHS Talent Show which starts at 7:00, tickets are $5.00 at the door and I would greatly appreciate it if at least one of you could come watch me perform. If not, I'll most likely be making another video soon, so if you still want to see some more glowsticking, that will be up here soon enough. Till next week!

- Jake

4/7/14 Jason Mai

Man I have been SOOOO busy these past few weeks, I'm stressing hardcore.

The end of 3rd term just happened and so much homework, papers, projects and tests were crammed into that week, I got no sleep it was horrible. I need to get my movie done, I have 1 more shoot to do and it's impossible to get the actors together and I also have a job now where I film lacrosse for a family and they pay me and because of this job I haven't been able to go to the dojo as often as I want.

Good news is that the term is finally over, so I can now get a clean start and keep going, the job of filming lacrosse seems to be about 2-3 times week, the pay is decent and the people are nice so im not complaining. I still come to classes the required amount so that's good, but because I don't come as often as I usually do I feel fat, and lazy haha.

Another things is for some reason I have recently been feeling....i don't know....I guess depressed. It's very confusing to me, I have so much going for me but I just feel this way for some reason, I'm sure it will pass and I don't think it's anything serious, but since I'm writing a blog post I might as well write about it.

Just recently I've felt very alone for some reason, I've felt so lonely, I just don't know why. I have a lot of friends and family who all love me, I have activities that I love doing and I love life, but for some reason, I don't...sigh...I'll figure it out, I'll just keep myself occupied with stuff to do and I'll forget, that's what I always do anyways.

This has been a short blog post for the reasons posted above, hopefully I will feel more energetic soon, hopefully, I hope, please life do this for me.

volunteering. Chelsea H

This week I was given my first assignment with the volunteer organization I am with (family services coalition). I gave two women a ride to the food pantry (A place to turn) and back to the hotels where they are being sheltered. It felt really nice to be able to give my time to such a need and take some focus off of myself. I have committed to giving one day a week to the organization for now until I get accustomed to it.

This upcoming week as my team mates leave to go help with the hero housing project and the dojo closes I look forward to taking that time to hone some of my weaker skills (left spinning back kick, lol) and push myself harder in my daily routine to compensate for missing some class time. I hope they all have a great time and I cant wait to hear all about it!

It's great to see some many people giving of themselves....truly inspiring.

my favorite act of kindness: giving a ride to the people from the hotel to a food pantry through the volunteer organization I am with.
my favorite act of kindness received: more donations from friends to help me reach my fund goal for the alabama project

Third personal goal (3/6)

    Wow, look at that! My blog post is on time for the SECOND WEEK in a row! That is impressive, if I do say so myself. So, what to talk about, what to talk about………….
    Okay. So I guess I will write about my third personal goal. I want to have thirty days this school year, and twenty days this summer, where I have no carbon footprint. By that I just mean that I don't use a car to get around to and from school, and around to karate and places like that. Now that would be fifty days total, so I am not planning on them being all at once. I would like it if they were spread out in fact. I wouldn't like to be biking to school in the pouring rain! That just wouldn't be fun, and it might put me off this entire idea (though probably not). Also, I reckon that I have made it about 10 days so far.
    Another thing is that during the school year I would have to canoe to school. That's because I live on Morses pond. If I don't want to bike across route 9. Then I have to cross the pond. On a normal day, what I would do is to have my dad drive me over to a friends house, and then I would bike with a group of people from there. But now, I would cross the pond (The night before, I would leave my bike at the town beach) pick up my bike, bike to the friends house then bike to school. So that adds like 15 minutes to my schedule. But its doable, and very fun if I manage to wake up early enough to do it.
    And in the summer, it would be very easy to not use a car. I'll just stay on the pond all day!

Goals

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
                   -Albert Pike

This is one of my favorite quotes. Although I have admired these words of wisdom for a while, it was not until recently that I realized that I needed to use them. For this test, one of my personal goals was to make as much money as I could (through babysitting, mowing lawns, etc.) so that I would be able to go to camp for 7 weeks next summer. I was surprised how easy it was to go without any extra spending money throughout the year. Before this test, when I made money, I would keep it for myself and spend it on something. Anything. I was never great at that "savings" thing. But this time I was determined to go to camp full session, and I took on all the jobs that I could get and put my allowance straight into the "Camp Fund". It was so easy to go without spending money! It made me wonder what I had been doing all those years. One year, and I have more than $700 in my fund. I was really proud of myself for learning how to save money. Then I realized two things that made me less sure of myself. #1: that I wanted to be able to go to the next Alabama Buildvention. #2: that I wanted to go on my church service project to New Mexico next year. These are both things that I would need money for. Things that I would need money that came from ME, not my parents. I considered dipping into my camp fund a little bit. But I would need more money than just a dip. That is when I decided that my Camp Fund needed to become my Service Fund. Because going to camp is something that I can do for myself, but going to New Mexico and Alabama is something that I can do for other people. Because it is easy for me to go without allowance, but it is really hard for others to go without shelter or food. 

Finally posted on time! Owen Mahoney, April 4

Hey everyone, Today I am going to talk about the nature of this test. 

      I have been thinking a lot recently about the nature of this test. This month has been a difficult one for me. I have had a lot on my plate, with school taking it up a notch on the homework load, fundraising for Alabama, vocabulary cards, my speech for Alabama, blogging, and of course, my physical requirements. Between all these things that I have to do, I have had little time relax or do any of the things I like to do in my free time. Some days, I don't have time or forget to do my physical requirements, which leaves them to stack up in great, festering piles of work that seem insurmountable compared to the time I have. i then have to spend a day i set aside for free time, doing these or just getting them out of the way for more to take their place. It's like swimming through a river of mud, and  I am just trying to stay afloat until the Buildvention has been finished, and everything calms down a little.

     My point is, everything in my life would be easier if I didn't have this test to do.

      But I think that might be the point.

     I think that this test should be brutal. I think that this should be a beast, a monster that looms over you, terrifies you, threatens to grind you into the dirt. I think that this test should be a soul crushing fiend. I don't know about anybody else, but I believe that a test can't be a bright happy time.

       I don't mean to say that getting a black belt should be a dreaded experience. But I do think that while this test will have its ups, it should also definitely have its downs.  

       Because having a black belt means that you are someone who can take the bad with the good. Too get a black belt, you have to be a person who can wether the storm, you have to be resilient. A black belt crushes the lemons life gives them, handles "le mèrde" and keeps focused(pardon my french).

     I think if your test is a time where everything goes your way, than it is not a test. This should be a stressful experience. Though it may have its ups, it will definitely have its downs. In my opinion, A back belt test should be a survival story, and never a fairy tale. This is not a thing that is easy, this is a story to tell. When someone tells you about their two hour black belt test, you can give them their story on a platter, because of the mountain of your achievement.

      Ultimately, I think that the test should be difficult, not because I believe that we must be hardcore, but because we need to show people how it's done.

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