Today was a wonderful day of training. I managed to work through my strength training program without too many issues. I did however limit my cardio training for the day, but other then that I would call training today a total success.

We managed to hit the gym early in the morning so soon after returning home we went to sleep for the day and when we woke up at 5:00ish every muscle in my body was in repair mode from the AM workout. The plan for tonight was to attend class at the south branch however one of our friends was in town and we decided to spend time with them instead since this was the only real opportunity we can spend with them without tossing our scedual off too far.

At the moment it is raining a bit so I am waiting for it to stop before I start working on my poomse practice. At the very least I want to knock out all of my poomse two times each. I also need to start working on Palgwe Pal Jang, the last of the color belt poomse. Normally I start working on my new poomse as soon as I recieve the correct rank however between working with Jennifer on her forms and other issues I really have not given Pal Jang much time and effort at this point. I am hopeful to learn it this week so when I start attending black belt class I will not feel like such a failure for not being properly prepared. This week will not be a easy week for many of my classmates.

This is the last week of the session and infact the last week of our Taekwondo year at many of our branches. A number of my classmates are hopeful that they are prepared for thier next promotional test and this week will be extremely important for last minute preparations. I was thinking about attending class with Jennifer this week, but after realizing what is going on I think I will be more useful to my own classmates so I will attend classes at my regular branch. I am extremely happy that our assistant instructer will be on the black belt pretest for this session as well. She will be pretesting for her 3rd dan which is a extremely high honor in many respects.

They say 1 of 100 people statistically make it from white belt to black belt. When I first saw the number I thought it was a bit high, however when I think back on it from everywhere I trained I can think of more people who dropped out of programs then actually recieved thier black belts. For those who make it to black belt the road is even harder. When you talk to many people who take a traditional martial art you will find that the goal of many is to just get "thier black belt" and they work hard for the average 3-5 years it takes to achieve that goal. After they achieve that goal instead of raising the bar they decide to stop taking classes and for the next 30 years of thier lives they talk about how they are a black belt in such and such style. At the next test thier may be around 20 people testing for thier first black belt at Kims Academy, however if thier are more then 5 people testing for 3rd dan or higher I would be amazed.

At the moment my goal is to earn my danbo, or my "basic black belt" I know that with recent events I am more behind then I hoped to be, but the goal itself is still achievible. My long term goal however is to earn my Master Rank in TKD within the next 11 years. Some people may think the goal is too long and I need to focus more on a year or two but for me it is perfect. A important aspect of goal setting that many people forget is writing out a blue print for achieving that goal. For me the blue print is fairly simple, work hard and do what needs to be done to earn the other ranks from now until then and in the mean time helping anyone put in my path to help along the way. (There really is a little more to this, but I think I will save that for another post.)

In any event I think I have bored those who read this enough for one post. I wish you all well and I will post my weeks training on the calander page and I will also post my blue print for earning my black belt this April sometime this week.

I finally managed to get my tarot reading done yesterday to try to figure out the things blocking my path.  The findings were not unexpected and getting things back on track at this  point should not be impossible.I am happy that the new moon is rapidly approaching and I am looking forward to using both the darkmoon energy as well as the new moon energy that will present itself soon enough. 

The goal for the week is to hit the gym as hard as possible for strength training as well as practice sessions. I have no delusions of this being a easy process, but I know with hard work and strong desire I will be able to overcome the situation I am in at the moment.  To make things a little easier I am going to start taking creatine once more which should help me to gain a few lbs of water weight as well as help the body with the energy issue I am facing.  I believe that once I get my body back up to par the mind and spirit aspects will raise as well. 

I am planning on hitting the South Branch for TKD classes this week and if all goes well I will be attending 3-4 classes this week.  I just need to remember my limits, and push them to a point but remember that I also need to back off instead of pushing my way into a ER visit.

Today was a day full of powerful storms. 

I was extremely happy to wake up and enjoy the energy that powerful storms bring, part of me feels as though it was a gift of sorts for me to use to st art putting things in order and to get myself on the path it seems that I have lost over the past month or so.

For the first time in a month I feel like i have energy and a little of the strength that I had before all of this started.  I relize that the next few months will be difficutl for me as it  pertains to training as nutrition but I am hopeful that I will be able to come up with something soon.

I have been extremely out of sorts the past month or so. As many people know I take the mind body spirit connection to a new level and since i have not been able to workout or practice much for the past 3 weeks I feel as though it is now showing in all areas of my life.

A huge part of this is that I am finally starting my dental work and the effects of the medication and the results of procedures limiting the amount and the types of food I am able to eat and so forth. The issues with nutrition has caused me to feel weak and has completely messed up my normal workouts, practice sessions and Taekwondo classes.

I have a couple of new beginning spells that I normally work in with new moon rituals and so forth, but at this point I am starting to feel that I should do one of them soon, as close to sunrise as possible. I know that the next new moon is only a week away, however I do not think I can really miss another week of workouts, practice and class time.

It is actually odd my reading and studies of Shamanism seem to be going well however I went to quiz myself on things I have been reading for the last few weeks and for some reason many of the things just came up blank. I believe that my body is starting to draw more from the mind and spirit for energy to make up for what it is lacking and in turn this is starting a downward spirial of sorts. I am hopeful that the AM new beginnings spell will be a kick start to getting things back on track and will help me get to not only whereI was but also where I need to be.

Perhaps that best place for me to start will be with a tarot reading and from there I can work with my guides on the best possible path to take. If all goes well then I will be able to get things back to normal with my Monday AM workout.

I think i have a few too many blogs now a days.  It has been ages since I have checked my covenspace account and with how active life has been that really is a shame.

Life has been a wonderful blessing lately.  I started the very long process of getting my teeth fixed and as much pain as it has been so far I am thankful for it. I have appointments set for every other thursday and by the end of August all of my teeth with be fixed and I will  be able to smile again and more i mportantly I will be out of pain.

My Taekwondo studies are also going very well.  I finally earned my last Red Belt or Red Belt Black tip back in June, which was a wonderful experance.  I will not be able to test for my black belt until the Feb. pretest  which gives me lots of time to prepare myself for this test as well as help others prepare for thier testing until that time.  Currently we are in the middle of our last 5 week session at my TKD branch which in a way is a good thing.  Do to getting teeth fixed I am missing more classes this session then I have missed all last year, however thankfullly my instructer knows why and is not holding the missing classes agaist me.  My practice sessions have also taken a hit due to lack of energy from meds but that should be ending very soon.  I am hoping to attend classes all week this week and I am hopeful that my practice sessions will be back up to atleast 60% inttensity. 

2 weeks or so ago I finally started my 6 months study of Shamanism and futher studies on Energy Healing.  So far things are going well with those studies and I am looking forward to learning more as time passes.  I still find it amazing how much study witchcraft truly entails.  I have spent more time hitting the books in the last  couple of years then i did while I was in school.