Breaking in.
Well, the first few days of school went by smoothly, but I'm still in the middle of the week. No absurd amount of homework has been given yet, so my grades seem to be completely safe so far. During the summer I started spending my nights at b&n and after a couple of weeks and several chance meetings with friends, it turned into some sort of a study group.
I expected us all to disband after the All the King's Men reading and summer project was finished with, but we never really stopped meeting. I'm pretty happy with the arrangement and it gives a good excuse to get out of the house while *still* being able to do something interesting...never had the best of both worlds before.
Ha, tripped on my jeans coming down the stairs yesterday as I approached the hardwood floor on the last flight. I dunno, the low-rides suddenly became ultra-low-rides and I landed on my knees. Danny and Pat were looking right at me, but somehow they got the idea I did it on purpose. As far as I remember, I don't trip much in public, so I dunno where the idea of my clumsiness comes from...neither of them see me in sword class so...(man-dresses aren't the best option for combat attire.)
Anyways, black belt testing has been postponed until the two students below me catch up...they seem to want to do all the testing in one fell swoop...three candidates at the same time...so in a sense I'm getting demoted...(or the two are getting promoted) 'til we're equal rank/attendance-wise. For some reason, the promotion doesn't seem so appealing anymore...now that I look back, our dojo isn't managed like it was used to anymore.
We currently have two 10-year olds in the class...back when I was in karate the sword class was exclusive to about 15 and above students. Our soke isn't very good with money and it seems that he's just accepting students for the money now...you pay the tuition and you're guaranteed your green/brown/black belt, essentially. I've seen students get by with less than acceptable standards.
Also, the higher ranks are being instructed to basically forfeit their practice session in order to teach our lower ranks. Last time I checked, the students...senior or otherwise...applied for training in order to learn from experienced teachers...If I'm currently holding only a brown belt, why should I be teaching basic form to whites (white belts...hehehehe)? Not only are they not being taught by a formal instructor (not like I'm a bad teacher =P) but I'm not getting the lesson the rest of the class is (In a situation like this, the class would be divided into a senior group taught by the teacher and a noobie group taught by an unfortunate student who misses the lesson).
If the teachers will be using me and the other seniors to teach their classes at this rank, no doubt we'll be used if we're granted the title of teacher. If I don't get the training I should be getting I'll be regretting the 450 dollars I spent on kendo armor.
huh...there's something I'm leaving out...
I expected us all to disband after the All the King's Men reading and summer project was finished with, but we never really stopped meeting. I'm pretty happy with the arrangement and it gives a good excuse to get out of the house while *still* being able to do something interesting...never had the best of both worlds before.
Ha, tripped on my jeans coming down the stairs yesterday as I approached the hardwood floor on the last flight. I dunno, the low-rides suddenly became ultra-low-rides and I landed on my knees. Danny and Pat were looking right at me, but somehow they got the idea I did it on purpose. As far as I remember, I don't trip much in public, so I dunno where the idea of my clumsiness comes from...neither of them see me in sword class so...(man-dresses aren't the best option for combat attire.)
Anyways, black belt testing has been postponed until the two students below me catch up...they seem to want to do all the testing in one fell swoop...three candidates at the same time...so in a sense I'm getting demoted...(or the two are getting promoted) 'til we're equal rank/attendance-wise. For some reason, the promotion doesn't seem so appealing anymore...now that I look back, our dojo isn't managed like it was used to anymore.
We currently have two 10-year olds in the class...back when I was in karate the sword class was exclusive to about 15 and above students. Our soke isn't very good with money and it seems that he's just accepting students for the money now...you pay the tuition and you're guaranteed your green/brown/black belt, essentially. I've seen students get by with less than acceptable standards.
Also, the higher ranks are being instructed to basically forfeit their practice session in order to teach our lower ranks. Last time I checked, the students...senior or otherwise...applied for training in order to learn from experienced teachers...If I'm currently holding only a brown belt, why should I be teaching basic form to whites (white belts...hehehehe)? Not only are they not being taught by a formal instructor (not like I'm a bad teacher =P) but I'm not getting the lesson the rest of the class is (In a situation like this, the class would be divided into a senior group taught by the teacher and a noobie group taught by an unfortunate student who misses the lesson).
If the teachers will be using me and the other seniors to teach their classes at this rank, no doubt we'll be used if we're granted the title of teacher. If I don't get the training I should be getting I'll be regretting the 450 dollars I spent on kendo armor.
huh...there's something I'm leaving out...