Recruiting club members for TKD. Declining interests in the martial art

As the president of the TKD club, it has been excruciatingly difficult to recruit members. Students have shown up to one or more classes, but eventually conclude that the club is not for them and end up not showing up to future meetings. Tae Kwon Do is a martial art, and martial arts, in this campus, so it seems, is not a popular attraction.

On top of that, there is also the issue of being too busy but in all honesty, all it would cost you is an hour and a half of your time. That's it. There is no such thing as being too busy. It's not like we're asking you to stay here for the entire day. You still have ample time to do whatever you need to do. In fact, being active and engaging in sports is scientifically proven to be helpful for the brain. People tend to do better with their work after a healthy workout and are also able to get a good night's sleep. It's a nice way to let out the stress and free the mind of all hectic papers and projects. So my friends, please do not say that you guys are too busy to come to the club.

One psychological aspect that potential students tend to err on is the fact that they can achieve their black belt as soon as possible. The important moral of Tae Kwon Do, or any martial art, is patience and perseverance. With years and years of practice, one is able to attain their black belt. One understanding in why the black belt is the highest rank in martial arts is for the blood, sweat, and tears that mingled in with the plain, white belt from years of rigorous training, thereby producing a dark, black color. Patience is key in martial arts.

The curriculum is something we need to modify. As of now the program is primarily focusing on the traditional, martial arts aspect of Tae Kwon Do and is pretty much lacking the Olympic, collegiate style such as competitive sparring. The pace of the class, also, is something we need to improve on. We need more action, drills, power, quickness. Enough to make everyone heavily breathe and sweat, like we always do in my TKD school back home. Over the years, I hope to introduce to the club the competitive style of Tae Kwon Do, as that is my speciality and is the style that I have learned in my entire TKD career thus far.

Hopefully I will be able to gain more club members. The vice president and I will think of a plan to recruit members.

As of now the club mainly has several faculty members and graduate students. We have a couple of students, and, of course, the vice president and treasurer. Along with one graduate student, the VP, treasurer and I would usually stroll around campus, play a couple rounds of pool, and just kick back like ninjas.

Well damn.

The past two days my slipper I use in the shower and my white, shell necklace I got in Hawaii a few years ago broke... Really liked that necklace........ The string broke when I accidentally pulled it from my neck and the white beads fell everywhere down my shirt and some even under my pants, eventually dropping on the floor.  :((((

First world problems? Nah.

Saturday w the gang

My suite mate does not own a jacket. I will repeat that.

My suite mate does not own a jacket. 

Regardless of how cold it is, all he wears is a cotton hoodie, a hat, and gloves. Sub zero weather? Still with just a hoodie. But what if it was raining? "I'll just not go outside," he says.

I'm a bit nonplussed...



Now here is some observations from a NYC native. Walking in the NYC streets during the peak hours of the day is like driving in a highway. Don't make those sudden turns without looking back. Since we don't have winkers it's important to not bump into others.

Also...

Do not make a sudden halt in the middle of the street. That is one of the absolute worse things you could ever do.

Friend singing

My friend is auditioning for The Voice soon and he sang Jackson's She's Out of My Life in the middle of the campus deli. Watch as people look at him the louder he sings, haha.

Kinda having a runny nose. damn it. Bad time to get a cold.
Hopefully it'll get better.


The other day my suite mate and I went to the dining hall to eat brunch at 2pm. At the same time my friend scared me as always and we ended up eating together. The four of us in all.
"Did you just get up too?" she said.
"Yep," I said.
"Good, you're living like a normal person."

Yeah that's college for ya.

Single Awareness Day

I was eating a lemon poppy muffin while glancing at the uninteresting news on the tv at the food court. A normal morning full of normal people going about their normal routines with a hint of ennui. Valentine's Day at its best... Ended up getting a mini, heart-shaped chocolate from my RA.

Taking bites out of my muffin, I came to mind that it was important to have an obsession. Okay well maybe not an obsession but some liking for something. Thus whenever someone stumbles upon that thing you like, they will surely think about you and most likely will tell you about it. For instance, my previous roommate had a keen enthusiast for mermaids. He drew mermaids, watched The Little Mermaid, and can literally talk a blue streak about them. His obsession with mermaids is not a bad thing at all, as his friends and family will think about him whenever they see anything mermaid related. It's one way to keep friends to think about you. To be fond of something, anything. And, during the middle of the day, you will get some news and stories from your friends, even from the ones you have not talked to in years.

I washed down my muffin with a mini carton of milk, munched down my banana, and left the food court. Chunks of ice and snow lay on the ground as the beaming sun hit my face. In my bag was a box of chocolates that was not originally intended for Valentine's Day but what did I know the day was here. Who to give them to I had no idea. There was not a girl on my mind to give these chocolates to. There were a few, but me giving them a box of chocolates would only make them feel mislead and incite certain complications. These chocolates were pretty expensive and rich; not your typical Hershey's you can purchase at newsstands.

The chocolates are sitting on my desk.

College Laiff

I was snacking with two of my tae kwon do club members and glanced at the tv screen attached to the wall above. The place never had on interesting programs. Grammy's were tonight but they didn't even air that. What is this. This peculiarity however did not stop there. I take a once-over at the place and take not of something different. Just like that I see a car similar to a golf cart parked in a random corner of the dining hall. the employee wiping and polishing the steering wheel. First, why was it parked inside the dining hall, and second, how in the world was it able to get here?

These two were extremely loud. One from Harlem one from Brooklyn. In fact they were so loud that one of the cashiers purposely turned up the volume on the television. The program was some court case that nobody really cared about. Word. We surprise people n all.

Stunts and all that jazz

Snow day

blizzard

Blizzard warning.
Classes cancelled.
Picture maybe later.
I was going to say it's a winter wonderland, but then it reminds me of Christmas and that's just plain wrong. It's like, mentioning anything about Christmas in February is like eating leftover pasta from years ago. Just not right, long gone in the past.

YEEEEE

谢谢

今晚我们的中文老师请我们吃中国饭。谢谢，我很高兴^_^

Thank you professors for the great food!! Happy early Chinese New Year haha!

今晩中国語の先生が私たちにごちそうしてくれた中国料理！！ありがとう！

鶴

友達が作った鶴。だんだん小さくなる。

College 9

My friend (the one who threw a random branch over the construction site) and I bumped into our Korean friends. One of them knew some Japanese. She had an accent but it was a rather cute one.

Called herself a princess in Japanese.
No you're not, I said.
She smacked my arm.
She went on to say there's nobody in the world who is as pretty as her, and she flashed a peace sign.
I laughed and said, "just join the TKD club will ya?" Since she took TKD last semester.
"My birthday is coming up," she ignored. "You guys are going to buy me a gift."
"When is it?" I asked
"March," she replied in Japanese.
"What do you like?" My friend asked.
"I like hamsters," Now in English.
"Hamsters..." I said.
"And chocolates," she continued.
I took a sip of my iced tea.
"How about we give you a chocolate hamster?" My friend suggested.
"That's disgusting," she whined.


Now my friend knew some Spanish as did she, a little... barely. My friend said something in Spanish that was too fast for me to comprehend. She went on to say,
"Hola como estas?"
"Those are the only words you know don't you?" He asked.
She paused. "Quesadilla".


韓国から来た大学生と夕食を食べました。一人の女の子は日本語をちょっと話せたんだ。
「私は可愛い姫です。」彼女が言った。
「そうかな。。」俺が言った。
そして女の子が俺の腕を叩いた。
「この世界でわたしより可愛い人はいない！！」って女の子が元気よく言った。
「。。。言いすぎやぁー！！！」って俺が言った。


笑

A day in the lifee

Thank you for the pizza my Tae Kwon Do club members!!!

EYYY my own mug. Green Tea Jasmine

College Life 8

Superbowl Sunday and I go strolling with the female suite mates, my suite mate tagging along. I had on my touristy San Francisco hoodie just for the hell of it. We leisurely ventured to town and shopped at a local mall. I bought a carton of OJ, cereal, two cups of soup, and a mug for whenever I drink tea at their place.

We came back just in time to watch the halftime show. Beyonce taking over the stage as she reunites with Destiny's Child. Memories. 

I stayed in their room until 2 am. As I was slowly on my way back to my suite, I looked up towards the sky and took note of the many stars silently sitting atop the dark, hushed sky. Clouds were invisible at this point and the moon was unnoticeable. I kicked a rock that was on the path and it skipped against the ground, leaving a lonely clutter sound. Nothing's perfect, I said in my mind. 

Nothing is damn perfect. 

I didn't mean to say it aloud, nor did I know why these words happened to escape out of me at this point, but I just happened to. A few late night smokers were loitering around the dorms but they didn't seem to hear it. 

Life ain't meant to be that way. Everyday is a challenge. 

More and more words kept on coming into my mind. Reasons unknown. Perhaps there was a hint of wisdom in me that night. Or something else. The feeling of loneliness after being with your friends for hours. An afterglow almost, as portions of good moments and conversations come back in your mind for the duration of the night and possibly even the days ahead. 

The interior decorations and the scent of the hallways, compared to the dorm I was in with them, dropped significantly in cleanliness and decency once I stepped in. The place I was staying probably had the most flaws and was in need of the most work orders in the entire college. Some of our bathroom lights have gone out, the toilet door didn't lock, the toilet didn't flush as well, one of the faucets tended to leak, there was an unknown outlet revealing its many intricate wires, there were gaping holes here and there, and the overall atmosphere was just plain depressing. I unlocked my door and saw my roommate fast asleep. I took a quick shower and resumed to study for a quiz in the common room while nibbling on Life cereal. 

Nothing is damn perfect.

That's Life. 

8:30 am class the next day and I get out of my bed at 8:05. Exhausted, I went to the john, washed my face, and chugged some water. I pull on a plain navy thermal shirt and a polo scarf. On top of that my usual jacket. I slip on my Skechers and a khaki-colored pair of jeans. An ordinary attire yet still noticeable in its own way. 

The lecture hall's interior decorations, chairs, tables, and walls were all utilitarian. Suffering from boredom, I glanced at my watch and followed the seconds hand ticking away time no less than a blink of an eye. A watch was a device you could look at to momentarily take yourself away from reality and into a perpetual dimension. Time never stopped and that made me a little more conscious. 

And just like that time passed by. 

I start to hum a Sinatra's tune

That's Life~

Weird yumé

Barack Obama was in my dream... I was attending some kind of presentation from a politician and Obama was in attendance as well. Then something the politician said infuriated Obama as he literally took over the stage and aggressively yelled at the politician.

dreams dreams dreams

I happened to take a somewhat pleasant nap on a Friday afternoon. And the dream went like this.

I went inside with a bunch of my friends in a huge store similar to Walmart or Target and somehow this store had a place to eat. One of my friends knew most of the employees so he went and greeted them as we all just sat there, commenting on how much he knew them. Another thing! The whole dream was in Japanese. That means in the dream I spoke in Japanese and so did my friends, even though they weren't ... haha. Dreams. Anyways, in the store was apparently a huge fancy dormitory, and I happened to live in a nice suite with my friends. I was living with the most random people I knew. So random that I doubt they would ever meet each other in reality. Two of them happened to be from the girl's suite I always went to in college. Coincidence?

But then we were back in the store when suddenly some siren/alarm went on, as a huge display showed up/projected up on the wall. It read, "Warning. Detected an unauthorized DVD. Please evacuate out of the store" or something like that. Didn't make much sense but that's what I could remember. Then we all exited the building. A lot of us split up but I was with my one good friend. He looked downtrodden, as we exited the store. The sky was dark, and for some extremely odd reason, our parents were waiting outside. But all we did was took one glance at them and pass them.

I swear this happened before... Where I and some other friend of mine walked out of somewhere and continued walking who knows where. A deja vu dream? Is this possible?

Anyways, the later part of the dream...

We were walking in the dark path, where? I had no idea.
"This sucks. Freaking waste of time," I think I said.
He just focused ahead and walked without making any gestures.
I hit him on the shoulder to catch his attention. "Right?!!"
He finally spoke. "Yeah."

A few seconds pass in silence. Footsteps were all that made noise. Suddenly, he sprinted ahead full speed. I had no clue what he was up to but he did just dash straight as fast as he could like a track runner.
"Shiratori!" I remembered his name. I yelled his name through the top of my lungs. Something I rarely ever did.
He immediately stopped, turned around, and sprinted back.
"What the hell are you doing?" I said.
Without a huff or puff, he smiled at me. He told me something but I forgot what he said.

Then, as if the world suddenly came to a halt, I woke up.

College Life 7

"It's those little things like that," he said, taking a sip of his orange juice on the rocks. "Sure they might be good friends. But it's those little common sense flaws they lack that make them so indecent."
I nodded.
"Would you walk with your pants down indoors?"
"No."
"Exactly," he scratched the side of his nose. "You either take them off or wear them. No betweens. It's either one or the other."
"Uh-hunh."

A girl with a fur coat walked towards the exit.
"I like your coat!!!" he hollered.
The girl, not hearing any of it, continued to walk out the door.

We were eating at a vegetarian eatery on campus. I was munching down my quesadilla while he was devouring a chocolate muffin with a grilled cheese. The conversation transitioned to talking about the people in the previous Tae Kwon Do class who were not in the club.
"To be honest I've never seen them around campus since then," I blurted.
"Speak of the freaking devil," he said, as he pointed to a girl who was in the class. "There she is."
I looked out the glass window and it was no doubt her, walking with careful, gentle steps outside.
"Holy sh*t," I said.

And it wasn't only her that we saw in the class. Another walked by.

Speak of the freaking devil.

I also bumped into the international student that I chanced to meet last semester whom I have not seen since last month.

Speak of the freaking devil.


After eating we were walking on a sidewalk when he suddenly picked up a long stick from a branch and raised it in air. Then he chucked it over the construction sight and walked away like nothing happened.
"College man," he said. "Do whatever."
I laughed.