Update

Holy Crap. I’m doing really poorly on my blog this year. I’m going to try to do better, I promise.

Until I fulfill that promise, here’s an update on what’s going on with the school and me.

School

We are doing well in our temporary home. Monday and Wednesday nights are our big nights, but we see some attendance on the other nights as well. Tuesday night Blackbelt classes started slowly last month. I’m disappointed that there are some blackbelts and dahn bos that still haven’t made a single class.

I continue to try to find a permanent home for the school, but the contact people at our facility are not very communicative. Granted, MadJax has its own problems, and there’s no love lost between several of the board members and other members of my family. I’m not sure what the problem is, but for now, I think the facility is serving us well.

Training

I finally began my Fourth Degree training last month. I’m learning a new form called Sahm Bang Cho Hyung. If you know your basic Korean, that means (or implies) Four Directional Defense. You’ll see me practicing it at times.

I’ve also recently started running again. I’m using the Chi Running method from Danny Dreyer. He is a runner, but also a Tai Chi practitioner. He combined running with the principles of Tai Chi to produce this method. It’s all about running mindfully, without injury. I like it a lot. I’m also using the methodology of Dr. Paul Maffetone, specifically his low heart rate training. Added to that, I’ve transitioned back into a low-carb, grain-free diet (no more birthday cookies in class!)

I’m two weeks into my running program (four times a week for an hour a day,) and a week into eating better. I won’t share numbers, but I’m keeping track of things with a fancy new scale that uses a mild electrical current to measure muscle, fat, and bone percentage in addition to weight. I’m keeping a spreadsheet of the numbers every day. That’s not really necessary, but the tech and the science help keep me motivated.

I lost weight last week. A lot of it was fat, none of it was bone (yay!), and a little of it was muscle. That, plus an honest evaluation of my running numbers, tells me that I’m probably running a little too fast and not eating enough. Even though I’m barely running, I need to slow it down a little bit. I might only be walking for the next week or so.

As I said, I’m keeping track of training, and all of the physical measurements. I’ll share them when I reach my goal, hopefully by the Kuk Sool new year, March 1st.

Writing

My writing practice kind of stalled in the spring and early summer. I set a goal to finish a rough draft of my work in progress (working title: Flight) by the end of July. I met that goal and then set it aside for a few weeks. My new goal is to finish editing it in September and begin searching for an agent next month. Also, during October, I’ll start reworking the first story I started working on (working title: Sword of the White Belt). I had a rough draft of both of them, but they both had real problems.

Flight is about a young man who, on a journey of self-discovery and improvement that includes martial art training and meditation, discovers that humans can levitate. Soon levitation becomes actual flight, and he posts a video of himself online. The video attracts the attention of governments and corporations around the world, some of whom are not thrilled with the idea that fences, walls, and transportation might no longer limit humanity. He becomes hunted and persecuted but has the support of a digital underground of followers.

Sword of the White Belt is the story of a group of friends who meet in a martial art school and bond through their martial art training. Their friendship continues outside of the school around their dining room tables as they play fantasy role playing games (like Dungeons and Dragons). The lessons they learn in martial art class are explored and illuminated in the game play.
Last summer I threw out the last half of Flight, replotted it, and then kind of left it alone. Before that, I decided that I had chosen the wrong main character for Sword of the White Belt, and needed to rewrite the entire thing. My writing goal for October is to plot that story so that I can write the first draft during NaNoWriMo in November. November is National Novel Writing Month, and NaNoWriMo is a non-profit that encourages people to write. Their website allows aspiring novelists to register and keep track of their writing during November, to build communities, and to cheer each other on. It’s a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. I’ve won several times. There’s no prize except feeling good about yourself. And maybe getting a novel published.

Summary

So, there’s lots going on. I managed to finish Star Trek: Voyager and The Sopranos recently. I also finished a video game for the first time in fifteen years. I’m reading books about health, cooking, gardening, pressure points, meditation, business, marketing, and website design, depending on my mood. I drive for Uber and Lyft on the weekends to make a little extra money. As the school grows, I hope not to need to do that anymore.

Now, to find time to bang out a blog post or two every week. I need to get that on the schedule. Thanks for reading.

Here are the links:

http://www.chirunning.com/
https://philmaffetone.com/method/
http://fatburningman.com/what-is-the-wild-diet/
https://nanowrimo.org/