2007 Year End Review

So another year has gone by, and Taido/Blog is offi­cially two years old now. I’m pretty excited about that, and I’m also excited about the end of 2007 and all of the sym­bolic mean­ing of an approach­ing new year. I’m already look­ing for­ward to a ton of great things that will be hap­pen­ing in 2008. But first, a short look back.

So far, 2007 has been a super-great year for me. In addi­tion to mark­ing my 30^th birth­day, I’ve enjoyed a deep­en­ing rela­tion­ship with my girl­friend, a job that I find reward­ing and fun, and a gen­eral sense that things are mov­ing in the right direction.

My health has been good, and despite an incon­ve­nient work sched­ule, 2007 has given me plenty of oppor­tu­ni­ties to prac­tice using my body in cre­ative ways. I’ve man­aged to spend a good deal of time prac­tic­ing Brazilian Jiu Jutsu (even if I’m still not any good at it) and Yoga (at which I’ve got­ten much bet­ter). I also feel lucky to have had the chance to be a part of the devel­op­ment of Kaikudo, a new mar­tial art put together by for­mer US Taido black belts John Okochi and Michael Issa. Kaikudo is not going to replace Taido for me, but it’s really cool prac­tic­ing some­thing that attempts to marry the inter­nal and exter­nal mar­tial arts in actual practice.

As far as Taido goes, it’s also been an event­ful year. My for­mer teacher has now refused to speak to me for about eight months. As regret­table as this is, it’s not nearly as sad as when he stopped teach­ing me. I think the real change occurred when he stopped being “Sensei,” and began insist­ing we call him “Kaicho.” (As my father remarked at the time, you can love a teacher, but not a pres­i­dent.) Though this all sounds pretty bad at face value, it’s actu­ally helped me to under­stand and accept the real­i­ties of what Taido really means to me and what my con­tin­ued devel­op­ment as a Taidoka and as a human will require. Though mar­tial artists are sup­posed to remain per­pet­ual stu­dents, I believe there comes a time for all of us to cut the umbili­cus and take respon­si­bil­ity for our own learn­ing and growth. That’s the area I’ve been explor­ing for the past year.

On a more pos­i­tive note, I was able to travel to Holland in August for the International Taido Friendship Games and European Taido Championships. It was my first trip to Europe, as I stayed behind to mind the dojo dur­ing US Taido’s expe­di­tions to pre­vi­ous European Taido events. I got to meet a lot of very tal­ented and friendly Taidoka, and I’m grate­ful for the oppor­tu­nity to begin new rela­tion­ships and see a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive on what Taido is all about. I’m sure that I’ll be see­ing many of those same faces again at the next World Championships in 2009, and I’m look­ing for­ward to mak­ing a European Taido tour some­time in the future.

But before the future, there is always the present. Presently, I’m busy prepar­ing myself to move back to Japan in spring of 2008. That’s right. Despite hav­ing lots of rea­sons to leave when I did, life is point­ing me in that direc­tion again. I’m not sure where I’ll be liv­ing this time, but I’m about 99% cer­tain that I’ll be teach­ing high school English in a large south­ern city for the next cou­ple of years. This isn’t going to be a per­ma­nent relo­ca­tion, but it’ll be a good stop on the way to some of the things I want to achieve over the next few years.

Spring 2008 will also bring the Asia Pacific Games in Australia and the 30^th Sakura Matsuri tour­na­ment in Aomori. I’m truly hop­ing I can attend both of these events, but funds may a lit­tle tight for the first cou­ple of months after my move. Still, I’m try­ing to save my money and plan ahead. I also encour­age every­one who can spare the time and money to visit either Japan or Australia and par­tic­i­pate in at least one of these two great events. I’ve had a killer time at both of them in the past, so I can guar­an­tee that they are both worth all efforts to attend, even if you can’t com­pete. If you have any doubts at all as to how awe­some these events are, read this and this.

And that’s about as far ahead as I can see right now. The first half of 2008 is going to be super busy — new job, new home, new dojo, and lots of places to go and peo­ple to meet. It’s going to be great, but I have a lot to pre­pare in the mean­time (sav­ing money is a huge pri­or­ity right now). At any rate, I’ll do my best to keep Taido/Blog as up-to-date as pos­si­ble and maybe even add a few tech­ni­cal arti­cles if I can.

I truly hope that every­one who reads this has had the best year of their lives so far. The next few months are going to kick ass.