New Years Resolutions

The New Year is finally upon us. For most, it's a time to start over or change things about yourself to start the year on the right foot. This is where the New Year's Resolutions come in. We all make them, and most end up not working out in the end for a variety of reasons. But we keep making them anyways. Well, in the spirit of the new year, here are some resolutions that I am proposing to do that is largely Kendo related.

Of course, this stems from my month-long absence from Kendo. Due to finals, graduation, trip to Japan, and apartment hunting, I wasn't able to find the time or energy to do Kendo practice. I was able to return to practice this morning and it obviously showed that I wasn't in practice for a while since I reverted back to some of the bad habits that occured while doing Kendo. As a result, the little Kendo flame ignited strongly so I have a strong desire to improve.

1. Do something Kendo related every day
When I see Kendo related resolutions, they usually revolve around going to the dojo more and being less lazy, etc. I have the same goals, but I want to make this one more achieveable in the fact that I honestly think that it's physically impossible to do physical practice every day of the year. We all get sick, go on trips or have last-minute engagements that may keep us away.

My version of this resolution is to make sure I do something that is related to Kendo every day. It is optimal to do physical practice every day, but I also need a backup plan just in case things go wrong. So I want to make sure I do ANYTHING along the subject of Kendo in the attempt to increase my knowledge and increase my ability. If it's not possible to do physical practice, then I will read an article in a book or watch a video or read a manga. Just something to keep the kendo flame burning consistantly. One other thing I would like to do is to do 1000 suburi in a day, once a week.

One note about the 1000 suburi deal. I am using this more as an exercise in concentration instead of an exercise in endurance. Anyone can work up to being able to do 1000 suburi in one sitting but I believe that it takes real effort to do each one correctly. So once I can do 1000 suburi in one sitting while concentrating on each swing's footwork, arm placement, etc., then I feel I have mastered that aspect.

Okay, that happened to be the only Kendo related goal since that pretty much encompasses anything that I feel can help me improve. The goal isn't to just be able to win tournaments, I want to be a better Kenshi.

On the note of resolutions, here are some other goals that I am setting for the rest of the year.

I. Begin Iaido
I found out that there is an Iaido dojo in the Cincinnati area that I could possibly attend. This is something that I have wanted to try for the longest time, so I want to try to fit iaido into my schedule so I can at least try it. They say that Iaido is a great compliment to Kendo, so I'd like to see that for myself.

II. Learn more Kanji
After my trip to Japan, I would like to try to learn more Kanji to make things more readable when I make a return trip. I bought a game called Tadashii Kanji: Kakitori Kun which is a DS game that allows one to practice writing Kanji. So far it's going pretty nice and I hope to learn more vocabulary and grammar along the way.