whenever I get around

Whenever I get around to writing these darn things, I always forget what I wanted to write. I have to remind myself by looking at the random pictures I've taken with my cell phone.  So here we are.

I went to Dick's Sporting Goods to grab some equipment I needed for my karate tournament that I had last saturday, and I staggered when I saw the prices of these darn mouth pieces.  Since when did mouthpieces cost 50 dollars?  I couldn't even find a decent pair of simple mono-colored ones.  No, Nike, I don't want people to see a swoosh when I smile.

These last three pics are from the tournament venue in York, Pennsylvania. I felt slightly out of place when I was driving up there early in the morning up I-83 because there was just nothing around.  I felt like I was on some sort of frontier ... yet it was inhabited.  I later learned of the presence of many Amish and Moorish people.  But as I ventured into the plains, I felt somewhat at peace. It was such as beautiful site to take in, outside the chaos of the cities and industry.

That particular location was some golf course that was decked out with snow tubing hills and some conference centers. I also won the tournament. Yes. I have a few other tournaments coming up so it's making me try that much harder at my classes.

These two gals I've known for quite some time, since they were toddlers. Their parents helped raise me into the YMD I am today.  I went to visit their family in Lancaster right after my tournament, and I'm really glad I did. My alterior motive was to get some encouragement from the dad . . . and wow . . . . If you want to find someone who's fighting for kosenrufu (and remember, in the community Amish!), this is the guy.  I felt so honored to even be in his presence . . .

Finally, a family friend of mine came back from Japan with a gift that I've been wanting for quite some time. I have been using my beads (bottom) for several years, and the ends have been coming apart.  In fact, one of the ends just went kung fu on me and just completely came apart. I received the ones pictured on the top. I figure I can use March 16 as a good date to start with my new beads. This sounds kind of ridiculous, but I am going to be a little sad parting with my worn out beads. It's been with me through the toughest years of my life . . .

By the way, the new ones are these massive beads that just went out of style, lol. The oversizeness is still in style, but the cloth ends are not. Nowadays, many of the YMD in Japan are using temari-style balls, which really do look cool.  But I really like the dark color of these new beads. Seems like I've matured or something. Ha! As if . . .