The past couple weeks has been very enlightening for me. If I were to put a label on the defining moment of it, it would be this: "Relax and let go. If you think about nothing at all, your kendo will fall into the place it's supposed to be." The lesson gleaned here, of course, is not just about how my shinai will fall onto my opponent. I need to relax and let go of my life, my priorities. If I can clear my head, the important things in life will rearrange themselves.

This lesson is important as it's following weeks of doing nothing but accounting, marketing, and management & organization work. I hardly have time to game anymore, but it's then I realize all the free time I spend doing (comparatively) nothing at all until the last second. I used to pride myself on being that last-second thinker. When I clear my head, however, the order falls into place like dominos. Do you work, and do it to the best of your ability. When it is time to rest and relax, enjoy your games. Don't let them become work as well. When our form falters as we're striking sensei, he'll whack us on the shoulder or head with his shinai. I've quickly learned this doesn't mean give up. It doesn't mean to sigh and walk away defeated. You stop, pull back to collect yourself, and strike again. You do it because you have respect for the man and his art, but you also do it because you respect yourself and the art growing within you.

I've had some pretty in-depth talks with Dr. Kelly. Some of them are a bit too juicy for here, but many are relevant. He's a bit of a portly man, but his mind is very sharp. I think my favorite part about him is he's like me: he's not just going to sit back and wait for you to solve your own problems. He'll badger you and badger you until you come to some sort of conclusion on a problem, then have the balls to bring up another of your problems and tell you to apply that thinking to it. It's so annoying, but fucking effective. I'm trying to argue this shit about killing being necessary in certain circumstances (think like SG-1 having to kill Goa'uld to keep humans safe) but then you have to question yourself further (their goal is not the death of the Goa'uld, but an eventual elimination of the parasites so their Jaffa can stay free. Hell, not even all the parasites are evil!) FFFFFFFF

Anyways, any more'll probably bore you. Mom sent me a package on Oct 5 and I just got it yesterday. It had delicious fudge brownies (Yeah, I dunno why I like them either...) which were somehow still good. I should ask her for a cookbook next time. Mom and Dad were curious how you guys were, and I told them as far as I knew you were liking the new place and the independence, just like me!