I found some Diabetes-related memes online and they made me laugh, so I thought I’d share them and see if they make y’all laugh as well. Enjoy… ☯️
This first one is “ironically” funny. I can relate to this. I hate when my blood sugars spike and I seem to bolus a huge amount every hour and it doesn’t seem to come down.
Yup, at least three or four times a night.
I was communicating with one of my readers and fellow bloggers yesterday (you know who you are) when I was reminded of my old dojo. Not “my old dojo” as in, where I used to train. No, I mean “my old dojo” as in, where I used to TEACH. That’s right, most of you know I practice karate by virtue of mentioning it in almost every post (did y’all know I practice karate?). But many of you may not have known that for a short time, I actually had my own dojo open. Some may assume that having practiced martial arts for over three decades, it would only make sense that I had a school open. But the reality is that teaching is a very particular beast and one that not every practitioner undertakes. In fact, I’ve known some fellow black belts who have been studying as long or longer than I have and have never taught. It happens.
At some point, a couple of years before I joined the Force, Sensei received an influx of requests for children to join the club. Although we accepted anyone who wished to learn, our teachings were a bit strict and rough for some younger children and Sensei thought that opening a second, separate dojo would be a good idea. With three current black belts (besides Sensei) currently training in the main dojo, it was agreed that I would undertake the project and take in these new students. I would come to understand years later that it might have been more productive to have a younger practitioner attend to the kids’ dojo, since they would “potentially” be more in tune with their students needs. But I was being offered a chance to open my own dojo and I leapt at the chance.
I was pretty excited to get to the dojo that night and even more excited to see how many students I would have coming in the door. More than a dozen children of varying ages were waiting for me with their parents nearby. It was a pretty slow first night, considering I had to cover off the basics and discuss dojo etiquette, as well as get all the kids registered through their parents and get certain forms filed out, etc… I still felt it went well and I was looking forward to the next class. Honestly, that first week flew by without too much difficulty and I thought I had found a niche in the form of teaching these young students. I would discover soon after that I was wrong…
You see, there’s a HUGE difference between the concept of teaching adults and teaching children. I’ve taught adults a LOT in my three decades of karate. For the most part, when an adult walks into a dojo they’re choosing to be there. I mean, I suppose it COULD happen that an adult would join karate because they’re being told to do so but I’ve never seen it. One can also expect that they’ll join for a number fo specific reasons relating to their health, weight-loss, wanting to learn a new skill or defend themselves. With children, they usually fall under two categories: they asked to be join or they are being MADE to be there by their parents. The unfortunate reality is that the majority fall under the latter category.
Another issue that I’ve noticed is that when you get an adult who joins and wants to learn, they’ll usually do everything and anything that’s required of them, even if they consider it boring or stale. Children don’t jive with that concept. In fact, for the majority of kids the curriculum needs to be kept dynamic and exciting. It needs to be fun or their eyes will start glazing over and you’ll “lose the crowd.” This is especially true of those kids whose parents have forced them to join and didn’t want to be there in the first place. It wasn’t my cup of tea but I could have learned and adjusted to this concept, given enough time. It turned out to be the parents who did me in…
After the dojo had been open for a period of time, some of my students were ready to start grading for their yellow stripes. For any non-practitioners out there, my style carries a yellow belt but for most students, the yellow belt is reserved for children and young practitioners who need room on their belt for growth over a number fo years more than their adult counterparts. Long story short, since I had never issued grading before, this was done under the supervision of my Sensei. Unlike many other schools out there, our students don’t have the luxury of testing simply by virtue of the amount of time they’ve been with the dojo. It needs to be a combination of how long you’ve been training, attendance and actual proficiency in the required techniques.
By virtue of this, not all of my newly-acquired white belts were tested for their first yellow stripe that night. While Sensei assisted in grading the students, I kept the ones who wouldn’t be testing busy. I know had a ranking system within my dojo, which should have been a good thing. Seniority can be an important aspect of karate, especially when taught in the Western world. This is because it gives the other students someone to lean on and aspire to besides the Sensei. I thought things were going significantly well for the next couple of weeks despite the fact that I certainly wasn’t made for “having fun” in the dojo. I had fun training, learning karate was fun in and of itself, but playing games and having a loud, boisterous class was weighing on me as it didn’t fit into the neat, compartmentalized image of karate that I had developed in my head.
Then, a cauldron of resentment and jealousy began to rear its ugly head as the parents of a few select students caught me before the start of class to discuss why their child hadn’t received a yellow stripe like many of the others had. I made the mistake of indicating that it was because they hadn’t been tested, which I thought would explain things. Much like a doctor who will explain something medical with the plain idea that it would explain everything, I assumed that provided an adequate answer. Instead, it added fuel to the fire in the form that the parents demanded to know WHY their children hadn’t been tested. Letting them know that they hadn’t yet acquired the level of skill required to grade for their stripe did nothing to assuage their concerns.
Within the next couple of weeks, I had a number of parents basically threaten to remove their child from the dojo if I didn’t give them a yellow stripe. This is actually a phenomenon that happens among child and adult practitioners. Some adults are pretty good at becoming petty and failing to realize that just because one has been training as long as a counterpart, it doesn’t mean you’re ENTITLED to the same belt. I had always made a silent promise to myself that a student would never receive a grading unless they’d earned it. I’m proud to say I’ve kept that promise, but it came at a cost. Once I explained that a student would not be tested for any grading until they had developed skill that would justify the rank, I began losing students. Within the next calendar month, the number of students I held and their dwindling attendance became almost non-existent.
Once it became abundantly clear that it was beginning to cost me more to run the dojo than I was making, I had to make the difficult decision to close my doors. Sensei was understandably not happy with this, but I didn’t feel I could bring myself to compromise my values and the value of the art I practiced JUST to satisfy the parents belief that “I’m paying, so you work for me,” or the jealousy their children may have felt at seeing their peers receive rank where they didn’t. I think it speaks to an ever-increasing concept of self-entitlement that the world has been developing for decades. In traditional karate, there are no participation trophies. You don’t get rewarded JUST for showing up. You want the belt, you gotta do the work.
Ultimately, I closed the doors of my dojo and we were able to absorb some of the kids into the main dojo (the ones who wanted to stick it out to learn and grow). Back then, I had often juggled with whether it was a good experience or a bad one, a good choice or a terrible one. The decision I finally came to was that there really aren’t any BAD experiences; it’s all in how we interpret them and what we learn from them. But I’ve come to learn that this is the direction the world has taken. People feel they’re entitled as opposed to working towards earning. And although I’ll be the first to admit that you gotta show up, you also gotta do the work. I would never attempt or continue to teach someone otherwise.
I never opened another dojo, after that. It was a combination of how the first one had gone down, mixed with the fact that once I joined the Force, I was transferring every few years, which I felt would be unfair to any practitioner who walked into my dojo. How bad would it suck to have someone commit themselves to my style, only to have me say, “Sorry, guys. Duty calls and I’m moving away…” only a few years into their training? That wouldn’t be fair to someone who genuinely wants to learn a style. But it also serves an important lesson to anyone looking to get into karate. If you walk into a dojo and the focus is money and EVERYBODY grades and passes when there’s testing, it may not be the school for you. I prefer to have closed my dojo than teach a watered-down version of my art to accommodate the ones who feel entitled. This is how an art remains true and pure. Food for thought… ☯️
It’s a snowy, Saturday morning here in Regina but the good news is the boys actually let my wife and I sleep in until 9:30, this morning. I never thought I’d reach a point in my life where that was considered “sleeping in,” but here we are, hence the lateness of this post going up. Considering we usually try to get the whole family to go out on Saturdays for whatever errands we may need to run, I’ll try to keep this brief.
Since it’s been two weeks and I’ve actually registered, I am now an attending student of Midwest Karate. There, I have begun studying Shotokan, which is also an Okinawan style of karate, featuring many turns, stances and hands positions that I find myself unfamiliar with. It’s a rich style and although I missed a couple of classes last week due to Diabetic difficulties, it’s been challenging and I haven’t had a class yet where I don’t break a sweat.
Since I was actually looking for a challenge, this dojo seems to be a good fit. What’s more, the senior students appear to be interested in learning some of my forms and techniques as well, making for a good exchange of philosophies. So who knows? If we stay in Regina for the next decade or more, I may just get my wish and learn a new style from scratch. Time will tell, I suppose. After all, life rarely cares about ones plan. ☯️
I was running an errand at a local retail outlet and I had decided to bring Nathan along for the ride. He can be a bit tedious upon his arrival from school, antagonizing his 2-year old brother and usually causing friction within the household with his energy levels. By bringing him with me, I hoped to mitigate that a bit. At least until supper could be served and the boys would be seated with food for a time. So, we took off for the store to pick up a couple of things.
The ride was pretty uneventful and Nathan wasn’t chatty besides asking me to turn on some music, which I gladly obliged. We parked in our usual spot against the outer edge of the parking lot, which faces a large, open field. Once we were completely parked, Nathan commented on the fact that there was some trash in the snow at the edge of the parking lot. I acknowledged what he was seeing and he asked me why people throw trash on the ground instead of in the garbage receptacles. Not wanting to imply that every situation is something negative, I suggested that the high winds we have in Saskatchewan may have been the culprit as it could have blown stray refuse across the field to get stuck in the snow.
Once we were out of the car, he told me that some people are bad and throw trash on the ground. he went on to explain that we need to take care of the planet and that trash shouldn’t be on the ground. I watched with a mixture of pride and awe as my 7-year old son, who can barely manage to perform even the simplest of chores without complaining, wandered the snow and grabbed his fill of stray cans, bottles and trash. His arms full, he looked at me and said, “Okay, let’s go!” I watched as we walked towards the entrance of the building and he dumped all the refuse he had collected into a garbage can.
I congratulated him on doing something good and I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. My compliment earned me a look of disdain as Nathan boldly informed me that I could have picked up an armful of refuse as well. Little bastard. Nothing worse than complimenting someone, only to have them throw it in your face. In any event, I’m not sure if he learned this behaviour from school or if another source planted the idea in his head. I was mildly ashamed of the fact that I’ve never really discussed the environment with him, but I was happy with the perspective he held. We should all be that enlightened. ☯️
Despite the fact that I make a real effort to have something posted every day (I’m close to 700 consecutive posts), finding material to post about can sometimes be a bit challenging. I can only bitch about the pitfalls and difficulties surrounding Diabetes so much, otherwise y’all would likely be of the opinion that I’m only ever negative. Which is not the case, by the way.
So today, I thought I’d keep things simple and simply write about something fun. Telling stories is as much a part of blogging as providing information, after all. In 2001, I had the opportunity to o travel to Japan and Okinawa with Sensei and a few other members of our dojo. It was the trip of a lifetime and even though I make a point of never living with regrets, I can honestly admit that I always wished I could have gone back, considering Sensei has been back almost a dozen times in the past twenty years.
Although I could fill a book with all the little details surrounding that trip, I wanted to focus on the aspect of our first stop on the way to the land of the rising sun: New York. The trip started in the very wee hours of the morning, with a drive into Quebec where we took a short-term flight from Mont-Joli to Quebec City. From there, we travelled to Montreal and then New York. All the bunny-hopping apparently made the overall trip less expensive.
Despite how tired and sleepy I was, I couldn’t contain the absolute excitement I felt at landing in New York. Besides the locals boasting being the greatest city in the world, I had spent most of my life seeing the city featured in television, movies and just about everything else. I had to seriously convince myself that Japan was the destination and that I couldn’t STAY in New York. We booked into a nice hotel in Manhattan and took to the streets.
Never one to pay for anything he didn’t need to, Sensei had us walk to a local neighbourhood that served traditional Japanese food. It was absolutely delicious and Sensei’s thinking was that it would start getting us into the groove for where we were headed. Then, we walked to the Empire State Building. Considering that up to that point, I had spent the entirety of my life in Northern New Brunswick and never travelled much past the Province of Quebec, I was on sensory overload and about as giddy as a teen girl who just won the cheer competition.
We purchased tickets to access the building and took an elevator ride that felt like forever. When we stepped out onto the observation deck, I was taken aback at how high I was and the amazing view that was spread out before me. The sun had just about set, and there was just a thin sliver of light on the horizon. Then, another site caught my eyes… I looked southward and saw a massive cloud of dust, lit up by powerful spotlights.
It was mid-October of 2001 and what I was looking at was the former site of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. Even a month after their collapse, a heavy cloud of dust was still hanging in the air and could be visibly seen from two dozen miles away. It snapped me back to reality in the sense that it was my first time witnessing something terrible that I had only heard about through the media.
But I was talking about how I’m not always negative in the opening paragraph, so let’s get back to the trip as a whole, shall we? I stepped up to the protective fencing around the edge of the building and looked down. Big mistake. I was hit by a sense of vertigo that I can’t really explain. I’m not afraid of heights, but the height I was standing at made it look like I was staring straight down ABOVE the street, which obviously doesn’t make sense. But the perspective was freaky,
Once I was done trying to induce vomiting, we left the building and decided to hop a bus to get back to our hotel. Like something out of a bad comedy movie, we somehow took a bus in the wrong direction and ended up in Harlem. Some friendly and helpful locals were nice enough to direct us to the correct bus line and we were on our way. Despite doing the lost tourist thing, we made it back to our hotel in one piece.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the hotel’s pool area. It would have been nice to explore Manhattan a bit more, see the Statue of Liberty, Central Park or one of many world-renowned museums located within the district. But after along day of flights and our adventures throughout the earlier hours, it felt nice to kick back and relax. The next day would see us board a 14-hour flight to Japan. Sleep was welcomed, especially in light of the adventures to come. ☯️
I’m not a big fan of snow or the winter. Besides the pleasure of sitting in front of a window during a snowy episode with a hot drink or a stiff one, adult usually means that snow brings shovelling, trouble starting one’s car, difficulty getting into work or being cold while outside. That being said, there’s something to be said for being outside when the weather is mild, enjoying the crisp air and winter scenery. Last Saturday, Nathan and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours ripping down a small hill located in our neighbourhood.
Nathan was lucky to have this ski-based sled as a Christmas gift from his uncle Jayden. For almost a month, it’s been sitting in our newly-renovated basement space with Nathan sitting on it to eat and watch Netflix, dreaming of the day he would be able to rip down a slope with it. With recent temperatures getting as low as -50 degrees Celsius with the wind factor, it’s been difficult to get Nathan or even myself, outside for any extended period of time. But Saturday showed a cold of only -4 degrees with some sunny conditions. So we were good to go and not a day too soon.
We arrived at a site in northern Regina called Mount Pleasant, which has been groomed and is the location of dozens of people who were sledding as well. Nathan was a champ, dragging his sled up the hill himself with every run. I also brought along a crazy carpet that our neighbour donated to Nathan a couple of months ago. I took advantage of the opportunity to take a few rips down the slope but it was quite a different experience from what I recall in my youth. My added age and weight made it so that I essentially felt every lump and hole on the slope. It was actually a bit painful, although I enjoyed the experience.
After a few runs, I let Nathan have at it while I stayed at the top of the hill and chatted with some of the other parents. Despite the mild temperature, a cold wind started to whip through and make it difficult to stay warm. Nathan was having a blast, so I sucked it up. I also couldn’t help but enjoy the scenery, as the hill allowed for a very nice view of the city of Regina (pictured above). Some of the other parents were well prepared, having brought hot drinks, water bottles for the kids and sporting thermal snow pants and such. I had a pair of long underwear under cotton pants, since I have no snow pants.
As kids are usually inclined to, Nathan befriended a couple of young boys and they traded sleds back and forth so that everyone had the opportunity to try out different ways to go down the slope. Nathan also tried out the crazy carpet, which was entertaining since there’s no way to steer that thing so one is more inclined to wipe out while sliding. Nathan had a blast whipping down the hill and tumbling as he went.
Winter can be a challenge, since the cold and inclement weather can have the unfortunate effect of making people turn into hermits and stay indoors. It was definitely good to get outside and spend some time in the fresh air, even if I was shivering towards the end. It was also important to let Nathan run wild outside for a bit. Kids don’t do very well when they’re cooped up for too long. Although Nathan has the opportunity to spend every morning outside when he walks to school, it isn’t quite the same as getting outside to run and play.
Last but not least, since Diabetes is an ever-present consideration in everything I do, there had to be some blood sugar involvement. I’ve noticed that cold weather usually drops my blood sugar levels significantly. I did suffer a low while we were at the hill but I was prepared with some fast-acting carbohydrates, so it was a non-issue. It’s simply a reminder of the constant need to stay on my guard. We had a lot of fun and a huge thank you goes out to my friend Jayden, Nathan’s uncle, for such a wonderful gift. I know Nathan is looking forward to going back and using his sled further. ☯️
I’ve often written that finding a martial style/school that suits one’s wants, needs and expectation sis a subjective thing and can be a difficult step in the journey towards learning the martial arts. In fact, it can be even worse if you’re experienced in martial arts and are trying to get back into it. this is something I learned the hard way, this week. Since you’re all here reading, allow me to elaborate…
I recently decided that as part of my commitment to better myself overall that I would seek out and join a local karate class. As most of you know, I had been training at a local school for quite some time until they shut down due to COVID-19, something that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. In fact, we were doing classes over Zoom for a while, but lo and behold, I logged on one night to discover that it wasn’t happening and it wasn’t until I reached out that I found out that they cancelled them in lieu of starting in-person classes the following week.
I would have been nice to be told but regardless of what the situation may have been, I’ve opted for a closer dojo whose style more closely resembles my own. Located five minutes down the road from my home and boasting three classes a week instead of two, I was pretty excited to try them out and even observed a class the previous week, which proved to be a good idea as it confirmed it would be a positive experience.
I walked into the dojo on Monday night with excitement and great expectation. I changed into my gi, although I was taken aback by its’ “snugness” and walked out to the dojo floor. An advanced youth class was finishing up and I couldn’t help but observe and see the promise of the young students learning something that would stay with them for years to come. In a way, I was a bit jealous, remembering my own youth and how large a role karate had played in it.
I met the instructors and was welcomed with open arms. They included me among their ranks and class opened. We started with what I’ll describe as a “light” cardio workout because in my head, I can’t seem to picture it as anything but. However, my body responded as though I was putting it through military basic training. Everyone was required to wear masks and I thought it would be a fun gimmick to wear my yin yang mask. Big mistake! The cloth began to cling to my face and the harder I tried to breathe, the more the mask clung to my mouth and nose.
This compromised many of my techniques as I repeatedly tried to pull the mask away from my face as I trained. Besides the difficulty breathing, I had the opportunity to see myself in the dojo mirrors facing me and I have to say… I did NOT like what I saw. I’ve often spoken to friends and family members about the state of their health and gaining weight as one gets older. It’s been a significantly long time since I’ve had the opportunity to see myself in a full-length mirror and assess just how far down that rabbit hole I had fallen, myself.
I don’t consider myself out of shape, by any means. I work out consistently, although my diet often leaves something to be desired. But that first class had me feeling as though I was a tired old man. The class was only an hour in length but by the time it was done, I was coated in sweat, struggling to catch my breath and wishing I didn’t have to wear that DAMN mask. But i felt good. I went home that night with a feeling that I had taken a positive step in the right direction towards regaining some of what I lost.
I didn’t help myself by going running for an hour on Tuesday. I like to take advantage of the free access to a gym facility at my work, and since I already have some weights at home, cardio is usually my go-to in that regard. So on Wednesday night, my legs may have been a bit more tender than they COULD have been. As with all things that take effort, the more you push yourself, the more familiar and easy it potentially gets.
Although I won’t say last night was “easy” in the traditional sense, the familiarity made it possible for me to get through the workout with a bit more ease than on the Monday. So, here I am… I’ve been welcomed; in fact, they want me to demonstrate forms of my own and share techniques and learning. Sounds promising. It may have taken some time, work and effort but I may have found a place to hang my hat. Time will tell, I guess. There’s another class tonight, so wish me luck! I don’t know how much more my legs can take, this week… ☯️
Yesterday was Sensei’s birthday. And although I did wish him happy birthday yesterday, it didn’t dawn on me to share the good tidings here. So here we go… Happy Birthday, Sensei. For over three decades, you’ve changed my life, improved my life and motivated my life.
The holidays can be a really fun time of year. Enjoying a spread of food you may not usually make, including baked goods, seeing family and friends and potentially travelling a bit (for those who are brave enough to try it, at the moment). Depending on your familial and faith-based background, your celebration may differ in some ways but I think we can all agree that the average person has a tendency to enjoy the holidays, even if for no other reason than getting some time off and being at home.
The “hows” and “whys” for that enjoyment have changed over the decades. I remember making my way through the Christmas break as a child… My mother would bake a mass amount of food, including sweets and meal-based foods. We almost ALWAYS hosted Christmas at our home, despite growing up in a reasonably small apartment. Between my illnesses and my brothers and my father working shift work, my mother was left with all of the preparations as well as worrying whether or not one of us would need a hospital trip over the break.
The big thing is that I didn’t have a care in the world, back then. I indulged in as much food as my body could hold (despite the fact carb-counting wasn’t a thing for me and my Diabetic system was terribly balanced), I watched Christmas movies, including National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Die Hard. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Yes, it is… YES, IT IS!!! Ahem, I’m getting off track here. My point is that my biggest concern was staying up late enough on Christmas Eve to make it in Christmas and/or get through midnight mass (my mother is Catholic and attendance was a must).
Enjoying the holidays through adulthood becomes a very different kind of creature. Besides worrying about the state of one’s household, including bills, job retention and the state of the world, it’s a pretty fair assumption to say that many if not most can’t enjoy the benefits of having no cares as they make their way through the holidays; a fact aggravated by the aspect that once you reach adulthood, you’re the one paying for all of those lovely gifts under the tree. It makes quite a difference. It also becomes a matter fo the household turning into a disaster area as it gets bogged down with stray wrapping paper, cardboard and packaging that swarms our bins a week earlier than pick-up and kids who refuse to eat because they’re too excited to play with the new swag they’ve acquired.
Don’t even get me started on the FACT that it creates an added amount of stuff in the household. I’ve always been something of a minimalist, and increasing the amount of junk we have in the household does not for a pleasant holiday, make. But there’s no denying that the look of sheer happiness on my sons’ faces as they opened up their gifts was heartwarming. My oldest son left out a “bowl of cookies and milk” for Santa, a benefit I never had since my belief in the red, fat man never took hold as a child.
I have a deep and distinct gratitude for everything my parents did for us throughout the holidays. Now that I have the adult’s perspective, I can certainly appreciate the time, money and effort that goes into the holidays. And we don’t even host our entire family the way my parents did. Life was a bit different back then, since most households included one stay-at-home parent, but I can’t imagine that made it THAT much easier, especially considering the handful I was as a child. I’m grateful to my parents for everything they did for us back then, and it allows me a bit of perspective as my children grow up. Take time to thank your folks for the things you DID have during the holidays. I know, I will. Food for thought… ☯️
No complicated narrative or explanations about anything in depth, today. Just a straight-up good old fashioned Merry Christmas. That’s right, I’ll be one of THOSE… I know the common practice in modern times is to wish folks “Happy Holidays,” but today is Christmas so I’m saying Merry Christmas. With that in mind, I’ll also wish everybody Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah and all the best in the New Year to come.
Have safe and comfortable holidays. I wish nothing but comfort and happiness to all my readers and their families. With any luck, the previous year’s woes will evaporate as the New Year unfolds and there will be better things waiting, just around the corner. Take care of each other and keep reading. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 