Conditioning testing

Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop a note about how much I enjoyed conditioning testing with all of you on Saturday. I was impressed with how everyone hung in and pushed themselves to their limits and beyond at times. I am looking forward to having such great energy as a team this saturday. We have come a long way since January and I am looking forward to continuing our training and growth past this test. I was extremely challenged on saturday both physically and mentally when my calves continued to cramp repeatedly. It was painful, but even more frustrating to be sitting on the ground while you all continued to spar. It was then that it was important for me to remember to keep my attitude in check and to remember my affirmation. It was such a great feeling of accomplishment to be pushed so far physically and to continue to push further than we have. I truly appreciate you all and the individual contributions you have made to our Forged team. This test has been challenging for me, both physically and mentally. I have realized what it is like to spread myself too thin and have learned more about listening to my body. I have done things that I never expected to accomplish and pushed myself to do my best. Thank you all for being a part of my experience and let's bring it next weekend!

Third attempt

Nothing like writing journal entries multiple times on the final day and having blogger keep deleting them. Here is my third attempt at empathy training. I chose to be mute for my empathy training. This took some planning because I had to make sure that my staff and clients knew ahead of time that this would be happening and that I didn't have any meetings scheduled for the day. I ended up using written and gestural communication as my primary forms to get needs met, questions answered, directives given, etc. This was difficult and it became clear very quickly how much I rely on my voice. The day went smoothly for the most part, a few impromptu meetings, questions from staff and clients etc. were all able to be fielded with my alternative forms. Most people who interacted with me were interested and more than willing to participate in the challenge with me even though it extended the amount of time it took to do things. There was one person that I interacted with however that was not willing to participate and who was upset that I would ask her to communicate with me in that way. She wrote me a note that had a very angry tone telling me that it was part of my job to communicate with others. She was not willing to look at other forms of communication as alternatives to verbal interaction. I then made a professional decision to interact with her verbally so as not to strain our professional relationship. It was frustrating for me feeling as though she was very closed minded, but it was a good learning experience as well. I feel as though I got the opportunity to experience a small amount of the intolerance that people with limited abilities must have to deal with much more regularly. Overall I learned to have an appreciation and understanding on how much I rely on my ability to speak.

No added sugar challenge

Okay updating you all on the no added sugar challenge that was inspired by the corn syrup presentation that I missed. It has been about six weeks since I started and I am very glad I did. I feel like I have more energy and focus, and I have discovered new ways of eating with this in mind that are also delicious. I have pb and apples or baked apples with cinnamon instead of sugary desserts, I also have had ice cream made of only bananas and pb, and have discovered that there is sugar in many things I never would have suspected. The biggest difference is in the cravings, I have always eaten a lot of sugar and the first couple weeks were difficult but as time has gone on. It has become easier. I easily turned down some yummy smelling caramel corn at the pumpkin patch yesterday and realized the progress I have made since the start of this. I have started adding a couple natural sugars like honey and agave back in small amounts but I truly feel like this challenge has given me the willpower to make a healthy lifestyle change from here on out. I am committed to be much more aware of the things that I put in my body and how they affect me.

So I've been a little  scatter brain  lately with everything that has been happening this fall. October is a very busy month!!! It can be difficult, especially trying to prioritize what you need to do first. I find it hard to focus on just one task sometimes. We have less of a week for this test, and I can't lose that focus now. One way to help people like me who can become overwhelmed very easily, is try not to take on extra tasks for yourself. Don't say yes to do something just to please somebody when you have so many things on your plate.  Know your limits; you're in control of your life.

Metamoris

Although I'm still sore from yesterday's conditioning, I was back at Aim High to watch the Metamoris jiu jitsu  tournament.  It featured some of the greatest fighters in jiu jitsu in 8 20-minute matches that could only be won by submission.  This forced some of the competitors to change their strategy, because of the fact that there are no points awarded.  It was great to see how the competitors at such a high level fought.  Another amazing thing was their conditioning.  The last three matches went a full 20 minutes, and all of the fighters looked tired.  Overall, it was a great experience to be able to watch the tournament and to see how the top fighters in jiu jitsu grapple.

Conditioning Day

Good job testers on an amazing job on the conditioning portion of our test!  I'm glad to see that we were all able to face the challenges that were in our way.  The day started off with us pushing our limits, but as the day went on I could tell that the intensity was picking up.   With one week left, it is important that we recover and make sure that we are mentally ready for the grading day.  Great job Forged!

Conditioning

Conditioning day was difficult, but I was proud to see everyone push through to the end. Due to my calves cramping, I wasn't able to complete the last part of the work out, with the wheelbarrows and leg lifts. I felt bad that I couldn't complete that bit with you guys, but you all did great. I have to say though that sprints were not my strong part,  I mostly ran for endurance instead of speed this year. I think that's why my calves cramped up. That's something I definitely need to work on before my third degree test.

Conditioning day

Good job testers!  Conditioning day is almost done, and we've all done such a great job.  It was amazing to see everyone fight through their pain and keep going.  We're coming up to the end, and we'll only have one more week until grading day.  Let's keep up this awesome attitude and take on any challenge that we face.

Video Journals

I just wanted to give an update on my video journals.  As of right now, I only have three up on the Youtube page.  I have a few more that are filmed, but I still need to upload it.  I had an idea of filming one during our conditioning test, in order to see what helps fuel black-belt testers while they are training.  I'm hoping that I will be able to put together an awesome video showing how we "eat like a black belt" while going through an intense training.

Conditioning Day

Tomorrow is conditioning day!

I just wanted to say good luck to my fellow testers as we face this test as a team.  It's been a great year, and a great test.  Our journey through the Forged test will never be repeated.  I feel like we are ready to take on any challenge thrown at us, and face it with a positive attitude.  Let's all give 110% tomorrow and show why we deserve our black-belts!

School year

Since school started, my schedule has been very hectic.  Some days, I wake up at 5:00 to go to school, and I'm at school until 4:00 pm.  I go straight to Aim High after that to teach and do class, and I get home around 9:30.  After doing homework and cleaning my gear, it's almost midnight.  It's been a challenge trying to balance training with school.  However, I face this with a positive, black-belt attitude, and I am able to get through my day with a smile!

School

It's been a few weeks since school started, and I think I forgot how much time homework takes. It's been interesting trying to juggle something else right before testing, but it's been exciting and different. It's a different enviroment than what I'm use to. Though I'm getting use to doing homework again, I really like my english and history class so far. Going back to school also means new routine to the week. Now I'm the one taking care of the kids in the morning. Making sure Jae, Jordan, Taylor, and JD are fed, making school lunches, and walking them to the bus stop, was something I didn't have to worry about last year. Though there are a couple more things on my plate, I've tried to keep my focus in check. Can't  get distracted this close to testing.

Saturday August 18th

Today a group of the Forged testers did a river clean up at the Clackamas River. It was sad to see how quickly it took us to fill up the rafts with trash only traveling a few miles in.
It was sad to also see trash floating in the water.  It was interesting to see how people reacted to us cleaning up. Some of them thanked us for our work. One group left us their trash to pick up, leaving behind uneaten pizza and cookies. It was a great team experience though, and I'm glad we were able to do a little bit to help the enviroment.

Warrior Dash

This year, although I was unable to run the Warrior Dash, I volunteered.  Along with other Aim Highers, we volunteered during the morning shift.  There was another group that helped out in the afternoon shift.  It was a great experience.  The Warrior Dash is a huge event, so there were lots of volunteers.  There were people working registers, cheering on participants, and we even had some Aim Highers working on the fire pit!  I was in the check-in tent where people could drop off there bags.  While there, we saw hundreds of participants (some wearing great costumes) check in their stuff before the race.  Our team had a great system for checking in bags, and we were moving fast.  It was fun to see everyone with a great attitude, and to see all of the muddy participants after they were done.  The best part was being able to volunteer, because without great people that are willing to help, awesome events like the Warrior Dash could never happen.

Field Trip

At my school, we go on a field trip to the beach at the beginning of every year.  It is a way for us to really get to know the new students, as well as to bring the school community closer together.  We do activities like sand castle building, tug-of-war, and scavenger hunts.  We always end with a clean-up of the beach.  We all line up at one end of the beach, and we walk slowly in a straight line picking up trash along the way.  We found things ranging from broken buckets to beer cans.  It was disappointing to see all the trash, but it was great that we were able to get about 200 people together to help make the environment a better place.

Journals

It's been a while since the last time I've journaled, but I have had a few things I wanted to talk about.

In these recent classes, I have noticed that the intensity has really picked up.  At the start of the test, it seemed like we were having a hard time getting into black belt intensity.  It seemed as if we were going through the moves instead of giving it 110% every day.  Now, I see everyone kicking and punching at a level 10 with a smile on their face.  With tomorrow being conditioning day and next week being the test, it's great to look back and see how far we've come since then.

Empathy

For my first degree black belt test, I went mute for a day.  It was one of the most difficult things I had ever done.  It really shows how we take basic abilities for granted every day.   This year, I decided to do blindness for my empathy training.  It was a lot different than being mute.  The hardest part about being mute is communicating.  It was difficult to explain ideas and to respond to other people's questions.  However, when you are blind, you can communicate.  The difficulty with being blind is in doing daily tasks.  One of the things I did was washing dishes.  It was very hard trying to make sure that each dish was scrubbed and that they made it into the drying rack.  I realized that others can help me, though.  My sister was able to tell me if I missed something, or whether it was in the right place or not.  This shows that as a black belt, we must understand that some people live with this every day.  We  should help those who need it; not only those with disabilities, but anyone who needs help in general.  It is important that we always try give back to the community, and to do it with a positive attitude.

Todays succeses and pains :D

Hello team im back again and tonight i felt so good and yet not... Im feeling good today because me and my team are going to test for black belt because we got all of our requirements done in time. And im very happy that my team worked together and did it. The reason why it doesnt feel good because i just got kicked in the leg like 50 times today :D it was hard and intesnse i cried because i was in pain and also because i didnt want to put anyone else in pain. But either way i still had a great day! Have a awesome night/day whatever time you're reading this! sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Secret Event

So I  was just thinking about our event we did last week, and remembering how terrified I was up there. There was no way to go up there and do the course halfway, because you couldn't just climb down the tree. The only way to get down was when you reached the zipline at the end. It was good that we did that though- I definitely had to push aside my fears- which I'm not sure I did successfully or not. I had just had to keep on thinking that each little step I took, led me closer to the end. I know it's more about what you're doing to achieve your goal, instead of the end result, but it's nice to know that every thing you do can contribute to your end goal. 

Today

I wish that I could have gone to the top secret event today! I missed you guys. I am in Denver for Compassion First and am really overwhelmed with what lies ahead. I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people who are doing awesome things in our world. They are the force that creates change, people dedicated to their cause and truly living it out in their lives. Let us all hope that we can find our cause and be the change we wish to see in the world!

Quality

I was thinking about quality recently, and I just wanted to say this:

It is important to have good quality in your forms, no matter what kind of condition you're in. Does anyone remember the day when we did a Demo Team performance last school year, and the sun was in our eyes? Does anyone also remember the day when we did forms on that mat that was burning hot? It was a challenge. But, the longer we faced those challenges, the more we got used to it. (Or we just found a way to cool our feet) So, we need to be able to do good quality things in different conditions, or at least be DECENT in them.

Thoughts

Just got home tonight from going to see a client that passed away. It is such a sad event and yet an amazing thing to see what a supportive family we have at the Edwards Center. It reminds me how blessed I am in this life and how many truly amazing people I interact with on daily basis. While there are many things that this lady taught me the one that stands out most is the importance of appreciating what you have. She was so excited about the little things in life that no matter what was going on she could always make me smile. Just wanted this to be a reminder to all of us to appreciate the little things and the moments because those are really the big things in life!

Saturday Workout

Steven Cason Forged 1st degree Black Belt Candidate 2012.

I would like to thank KJN for the cinder block workout today.  It was pretty fun.  Can't wait to see what he has planned for us next week!

I don't know about the adult Forged testers but I can feel some aches coming on tonight.  For me shoulders, upper back, etc.  I thought the walking on water routine was a good team building exercise I thought it was about pace and timing to alternate who picked the cinder block next and still keep from being warned not to slack by our coaches.

After the workout I went to Hales to have one of their omelets.  I felt like I needed protein today.

The art museum.

Hello again team sorry if i am responding really late to this blog but i wanted to redo my other museum blog. So last weemend the first degree juniors went to the portland art museum including me. So what we did is look around in the museum we visited japanese art paintings sculptures etc. But our main goal was to find the purpose and understand the word of martial arts. So we looked around and saw some pretty interesting pictures but the one that stood out most to me was the tortise its like a symbol of immortality and no matter how slow or how far the turtle has to trvel it wont stop until it gets there. Also we learned what martial and arts mean martial means like war or fighting and then arts means skill beauty. So if you put that all together that that is the skill of defending or fighting. Overall i really enjoyed my time with my team at the portland art museum i learned so much at my time there. Also when we first came up to the museum we smelled some really good flowers! Bye have a nice day! :D Sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Menucha 9/4-6

Hi everyone! Sorry this journal entry is so late
 I was at a retreat/conference for OCCSA ( Oregon Community College Student Association.)  I was one of the students representing PCC Rock Creek . There were a bunch of student leaders from all these community college, going to workshops about leadership, political, enviromental, and social issues that might be facing us this year. After going, I feel much better going into my job as events coordinator. Hearing comedian Debbie Wooten speak was definitely a highlight. Debbie Wooten  is an African American who was diagnosed with polio at just five months old. She told us about some of the struggles she had growing up in the sixties. The way she got through all of this was cracking jokes and being funny. Life happens, and some things may bring you down. \ She said that scoliosis didn't cripple her, the word can't did. Her talk was very motivational and reminded me that it's all about attitude.

Travel for business updated

Steven Cason Forged 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate 2012

Looks like I got a stay of execution from half of my planned business travel.

Turns out I will be going to Nashville, Tn the week of October 8th and Middlebury, In the week of October 15th returning Thursday October 18th.  My thanks to the staff at AimHigh for working through this travel issue so close to the testing date.

The work out was fun last night but I am very disappointed that I had to stand down due to bleeding elbows.  BSBN Corey gave me some good pointers on breaking guard which made a lot more sense than the way I was approaching it before.

I am starting to get keyed up for the final test and am trying to keep busy recovering my lost word documents after our PC blurped at home.  I should have it done in a couple of days more.

Steven Cason

No excuses

Sorry everyone I have fallen behind on my blogs again!!!! I have been keeping up on everything else but they got lost in the mix. So onto a new blogging commitment for me, at least twice a week until the test! I have also committed to eating no added sugar until then as well. This has been an extremely difficult challenge, but I am hoping it will be a little bit of a lifestyle change for my eating. I am learning that there is added sugar in sooooooo many things. I am extra appreciative of the fruits that I eat, and have been feeling better after just a couple weeks!

climb and run for the cure!

Hello once again team so today i wanted to talk about the events that i participated in over the wekend.Just what the title says i did two things a ran and climbed for the cure so first i did something called climb for the cure its a project put together by the fire department. Its were the fire fighters go to the saturday market and bring a staircase machine and train to climb the stairs of a big building. And for every floor you can pay x amount of money to that fire fighter in the end the money is donated to help fight cysticfibrosis which is a mucus that builds up around you're lungs which makes it hard for you to breath. Alright moving on so i also did the 5K run for... Run for the cure its a program set up by a group of women to help cure breast cancer you have to pay money to get into the run and once you are done running you are given T-shirts and all that fun stuff. And all the money that they make at the run is all donated to help fight breast cancer. I ran the run non-stop because i wanted to help those in need who are currently suffering from breast cancer. Have a nice day see you in class! :D sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Art Museum (and flowers!)

Hey team!  BKGN Danny took the younger Black Belt Testers to the Art Museum.  I haven't been there in a really long time, and it was fun looking at all different kinds of art there. The one piece of art that stood out to me (besides the really bright one in the middle of the hall upstairs), was this thing made out of bark shaped like a bird. If you looked close enough, you could see the feathers in it's "wings". The way I interpreted that piece of art was that something extraordinary can be made out of something you see everyday. (Which means that we can be turned into something amazing if we really tried) There was also this weird structure by the entrance, and everyone thought it was a chair so some of them sat on it. Apparently, it was a sculpture, and we were all laughing when we found out. Lesson here, don't judge a book by it's cover, or just don't judge anyone at all. We were also surprised to see some simple paintings. We even saw one that was just a blue background and 3 strokes of a brush in different colors. What I learned from that one is that good basics are important. Some of the stuff we saw looked kind of creepy, like portraits with red eyes, and paintings that seem to watch you no matter where you walk. There were even some of those accordion-type curtains that can fold and unfold themselves. They even had some cool stories written on them too. (To me, that meant everybody has a story, and that makes everyone unique) My other favorites were the Cherokee masks. Some were bears, or sad faces, or a face inside a bear mask called "Transformation" or something like that. The art museum was pretty awesome (at least to me it was), and I'm sure there's going to be a lot more stuff when I come back.

P.S. We got to smell some flowers!!!

Well we are finally getting there

Steven Cason Forged black belt team 1st Degree Candidate.

I find it hard to believe we are almost finished with the testing process.  It seems to me that we just started a couple of weeks ago!  Time flies by.

My thanks go to Cyrus this week for giving me some good tips on executing the OxJaw breaking technique.  I hope everyone is in good shape with their non technical assignments.  Today I took the day off from the dojo and focused on memorizing the knowledgebase.  I am still recovering from the crash of our computer this week but I should be able to get everything caught up for our October 15th deadline for having the written part of our test completed.

All of you guys on the 1st Degree team don't forget the IOU we discussed Wednesday after training you have for me for Monday.

Hopefully we are all in the process of dotting our I's and crossing our T's at this stage of the test (you know cleaning up loose ends).

Also my thanks to Chris (my wife) for repairing my shin guards.

Steven Cason

MUTE!

Hello once again black belt team so i am very very sorry today because i am blogging a little late about this so please forgive me for that but yes i went mute for 24 hours straight in a row and it was super hard because you know me im a big talker and i love to talk but it was hard not to comunicate with my words but i did try a little sign language but i wasnt all that good at that.... so i ended up starting at 6 in the morning but i talked and then i talked again! so over all i made it on the last try and in the end i am really proud of myself because that was a really hard thing to do! but im glad that i just sucked it up and did it. sincerly,Clark Ahrendt have a awesome day!

How I will break my boards

Hey team. For those of you who weren't during the Board/Brick breaking event, I had 2 boards. I chose elbow and axe kick to break them, but they didn't break. They way I will make sure I will break those boards when the special day comes, is that I will go to Home Depot when we can, and I will buy my self some boards and cut them to the same size. That way, I could practice breaking the boards in those ways. I'm really excited for the day to break those 2 boards from that day, and I would like to say THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO GAVE ME SUPPORT DURING THAT TIME, and I will break those boards! (It is my destiny, literally)

Travel for business

Steven Cason 1st Degree Black Belt candidate Forged 2012.


A  week or so ago I was notified at work I will be traveling on business for 4 consecutive weeks beginning Monday September 24th.

I talked to KJN and BKJN about this and they have agreed to let me work out on Fridays, Saturdays morning and afternoon, and Sundays at the Dojo.  I should be able to work my travel arrangements out so I can make the Friday appointments for the fist two trips I am flying to Hayden Lake Idaho so Friday will be a travel day (hmm maybe I can come back late Thursday evening) but when I am traveling to Nashville the last two weeks of the scheduled travel it may not be possible to make the Friday appointments.

I will be able to make the Saturday special trainings and the physical and technical tests.  Anyways point of this is beginning September 24th you won't see me weekdays only on weekends.  I haven't quit I just need to modify my schedule a bit.

Steven Cason

My tracking :(

Hello again team so recently ive been preparing for the phase 4 test and i look at my acts of kindnes and enviromental acts. And realize that i should have more than i already have because in estamate i probably did 234 acts. so since im low on my enviromental acts and on enviromental acts. Now what i did to catch up to my self is that i went around my whole neigborhood and picked up any trash and the trash that i found was counted on my book and the amount of trash that i collected was 282!!!! that is a huge amount of trash only found along only 1 street! so i am not only up to speed on my acts now but i cleaned my entire neighborhood. have a great day! sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

CORN SYRUP (medium)

HELLO again team so i have had the honor to visit the science pub talk so what is science pub? it is a group of scientist around oregon who set up speaches for certain subjects and they want volunteers to speek like perfesional scientists. so last night we had a scientist come up and talk to us about corn syrup. And what he had to say was very very interesting. Over time from the 1900 between now we have eaten so much corn syrup that it is scary im actually suprised that we even eat that much corn syrup everyday. Well there is 2 types of things that are bad for you think of this there used to be corn syrup just regular but then the government found out that if you procces the material a little more it become high fructose corn syrup. and not only was it sweeter but it was cheeper for the government to put that into every day foods to make them taste better. So if you wanted to check out more of these speaches then check out on google: SCIENCE PUB have a nice one! sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Ugh!

It looks like I will be testing on attitude tonight, all of this running around and not giving my body rest has caught up with me. Fever and sore throat this morning after :( I am taking the day off of work to sleep it off and hopefully be feeling better by testing time. I hope every one is ready and excited to bring the energy tonight, I have really enjoyed how the team has come together over the last phase and felt more unified. Good luck tonight all!

High Fructose Corn Syrup

So this is my understanding of the seminar last night: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is man-made from corn and is 55% Fructose and 45% Glucose. The difference between fructose and glucose is that when you eat glucose, it slowly enters your body at a healthy rate and goes to your brain, muscles, and liver. When you eat fructose, it doesn't go through at a steady rate; it goes in at the same rate you eat it and only goes straight to your liver. There is also a part of your body that sends signals to your brain when you eat telling it that you are eating and you don't need any more. Fructose goes straight through and that certain part of the body doesn't send those "Hey, you are eating" signals, so you don't know if you are getting full, which makes you want to eat more food (possibly with fructose to start the cycle again). Another thing we learned was that when you drink soda (which usually has HFCS), some of the fructose goes to the part of your body that makes you want to pee, which means you would pee more than you usually would when you drink water, and it would also dehydrate you. Also, the amount of Fructose has gone up very quickly. One of the slides showed a graph that started when humans started to develop and the present day earth. Back then, yearly consumption of fructose of one person (which was from fruits and veggies back then) was 7 lbs, and now it has gone up to 147 lbs. People make HFCS because it's cheap and tastes 5X sweeter than glucose. Glucose is actually healthier than Fructose, but people use it in many types of foods to make it tastes sweeter. One person asked: "If people want that little 'kick', then why don't they just add Glucose?" The answer was that it doesn't taste very sweet, and if people used Glucose, they would need to use a lot of it, which is still unhealthy. Another person asked "What about honey? Isn't honey natural?" The spokesperson told us that the flowers most people use for the bees to make honey don't usually come with nectar to drink. So they do what they do, spreading pollen, and apparently the bees drink HFCS and make honey out of that.

I'm so glad I went to this seminar because my dad and I learned so much about sugary things and answered so many questions I had but never found the answer to, like "How come one day I feel like eating more than the previous day if I haven't used huge amounts of energy?" And "Why does water seem more refreshing than soda?" I was proud to see many AHAMA students there like Daniel, Antonio, and Clark. I was also happy to see Serena, Jae Jae, Ann Marie, CHN Devlin, and Jordan there, and they weren't required to go. I saw the girls taking notes, which I was thought was amazing. I was also happy that all of the AHAMA students (except one little boy, wink wink) didn't bring soda. It was really funny because the spokesperson said "Before we begin, just a quick show of hands, who here brought soda?" and the 2 girls and I Instantly looked at that "boy" from AHAMA with soda in his hands. If you didn't go to the seminar this should bring you up to speed.

BTW, you can also see this on Yahoo.

My evening

<p>Hey all sorry I missed you at the corn syrup presentation, I have been in Seattle this evening for a fund raising event for a.company called Arts Aftercare. They create tool kits and provide art and music therapy to kids who are survivors of human trafficking. It was a powerful event that brought me to tears when they spoke of more than 1 million children, some as young as five years old who have been sold as part of the sex trade. They are sold for as little as the cost of a Starbucks coffee, and struggle to recover from the trauma they have endured. There are so many amazing organizations in this world and this is one of them. It reminds me so much to be thankful for the childhood I had and gives me more of a desire to help those in need.

Friday August 17th

Today I started training for my position at PCC.  This school year I'm working with their student government to be the events coordinator for the Rock Creek Campus. Today it was an in-service training with all the other campuses and their student leaders. It was nice to meet new people and I was excited to get to know who I was working with better. We started out the day doing leadership games with all the other campuses. In the afternoon each student group from each campus did their own service project. Our supervisor Mandy had arranged for our group from Rock Creek to spend the afternoon scrubbing tombstones at the Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland. I found out that Mandy did tours there, being that the cemetery was also an  historic site. We spent some time learning about the history of the place, learning that the families such as Burnside, Hawthorne, and Lovejoy  were buried there, finding out that people held their liquor in tombstones during the prohibition era.It was interesting to learn a little bit about Portland's past, before getting started.
Our group ended up scrubbing about 8 tombstones that day, and it was nice to see the engravings on the stone after all the moss was gone. We had a passerby, thank us for the job we were doing that day.
                 After cleaning up, Mandy had us regroup before heading back. After learning all those stories about the people that were buried there, and seeing the sayings and words on the tombstones, she told us that are actions and  what we do  make us. What type of mark are we going to make in the world? How are people going to see us when we are gone? Every little thing we do has an effect somehow, either on someone else's life, the environment, etc. I see it as a ripple effect. If we are mindful and think before we act, it can help us to leave a positive mark instead of a negative one.

Update! :D

Hello again team this is me clark checking up! So today i wanted to talk about incuraging other people to pick up trash ever since i went to the clackamas river cleanup i felt like just picking up more and more trash but no one will still notice so i am trying to pick up trash in front of poeple lately so that other people can see that they should pick up trash too! I really hope that all of us have been picking up alot of trash recently. because the more we pick up the more people notice. And if everyone sees that then they pick up trash if all of us pick up trash then this world will be a better place to be in! And remember.... Dont be a litter bug!

Have a great day! sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Operation shoebox!

HELLO again black belt team so i just wanted to let you guys know that i am excited to see the results of operation shoebox. And the amounts of what material that we need to collect is collected. My job was to bring in books so what i did is not only did my mom bring in 20 books but im also bringing in some books of my own that i dont need anymore that i think others would love. So like i said before it is really fun raising some items for the soldiers im sure they deserve it! Im really glad that we are able to be helping these soldiers it means alot to me because most of my family was in the army they told me it was pretty rough. Well i hope you guys and gals have a awsome day! stay cool in the shade and out of the sun! ;D :D yay 2 smiey faces! sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Getting closer!

Wow!!! This test is coming up quickly!!!! Hard to believe that things have been flying by so quickly lately. Phase 4 should be interesting as it is the only one so far that we have not had a curriculum for. I am excited and nervous for that because I want to be prepared, they can really throw anything at us and they probably will :)  I have been even busier lately with work and some changes that you have heard about with my potential move to Indonesia. As things get closer I will be most likely be continuing to strive for that balence that I've talked so much about. I am starting to feel more nervous and a little overwhelmed with that whole process so expect to hear more about the changes in the blogs to come :)

Clackamas River Cleanup

Steven Cason 1st Degree black belt candidate Forged team.

First of all I would like thank everyone who participated yesterday.  CGN Bo, his daughter Devon, Clark, his father Marc, CGN Jenalyn, CGN Jonathon, and Joel.  As Clark had mentioned in his blog we found lots of trash :( and it is a crying shame that this section of the river sees so much abuse.

We floated from Barton Park to Carver Park yesterday about 5 river miles.  Everyone went to work at the boat ramp where we launched there were beer cans and bottles everywhere around there.

One of my biggest disappointments was how some of the people just didn't care about throwing stuff in the river we were actually the subject of their jokes as they floated by us.

One of my biggest thrills for the day was the words of encouragement that some passers by gave us and the willingness of our younger people (Joel, Clark, CGN Jonathan, Devon, and CGN Jenalyn) to go out and pick up some other person's trash and set a good example for all of their peers and older folks as well.  You young folks I mentioned above will be leading activities like this in 20 years and passing concern for the environment to your children and other young people.  Good for you!  You guys are the future.

As I said in an email to our group today picking up the garbage is a good thing but what I am striving for when I do this is to convince people that each individual can help.  If we convinced one person to pick up after themselves when they are outdoors our trip was a success!

Now it is time to eat dinner and go out and work aerobics in an hour.

Steven Cason

Clackamas river cleanup!

HELLO again black belt team! so yesterday on saturday me and some of the black belt crew went on a boat that steven had provided us. And would paddle all the way across the entire river and wherever we went we would stop on an island and pickup trash. it really dispoints me to see this river so trashed its not even funny! every raft that we passed by people were always drinking beer and after they were done they would just toss it over theyre shoulders! im really scared that this river is getting polluted... So we had filled up about ten garbage bags full of trash cans beer bottles broken glass plastic it was so much garbage that we actually had to stop collecting it!we had filled up stevens boat completely filled with garbage! sometimes we were just going along the river when we would pass up about 50 beer cans on the bottom of the river we knew it was cans because we could see the reflection of the sun on the cans. we found some really strange items on the way my dad found a sewing machine then joel and johnathan found a car battery that weighed so so much! it was very cool that we were able to make a difference overall we did a amazing job out on the river one time BO saw a rubber mattres on the other side of the river and he had to swim all the way across then pick it up and come back we got a picture so im sure you can beleive us! Have an amazing day! Please dont pollute! :( sincerly, Clark.Ahrendt :D

The truth about this month....

HELLO team its me again! And i dont know about you guys or gals but im pretty nervoous for this test so im studying hard and i really hope that i can make it past this test here comes the moment of truth whether we pass or not or succed with honor or succed with regret. So i have been training alot going swiming and tretching out my hurt back so it can get better and i am actually fealing much better now! But no matter what i am going to be ready for that test! I'll do whatever it takes and i hope i get that belt! have an awsome day! keep cool in the shade! :D sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

my jumping accident

Hello team so today i have something quick to talk about so me and my family one day went to a bungie jumping place called skyhigh and when i was bouncing i think that i might of hurt my muscles my mom said that i have never been used to jumping in my life so what i am going to is take some time to do some jumping so were going to go there again and keep practicing so that is my new goal! also i am really excited 4 phase 4 testing no pun inteded sincerly,Clark.Ahrendt

Introspective

Lately I have been spending a lot of time in deep thought surrounding the opportunity to go to Indonesia to work with compassion first. I also did an interview this week with the founder of edwards center which was thought provoking about the direction that I truly want my life and career to go. I am looking forward to this opportunity but am also starting to be more nervous and anxious. I think this will be one of the most difficult things that I have ever done. I am thankful for the skills that I have learned at aim high and will make good use of the attitude poem that we know and love :)  There is so much involved in preparation that is interesting and challenging, but it adds to what is already a very busy schedule. I will continue to strive for balance throughout the next couple months. Wow! It is getting so close!!!!!

Saturday Special Training with BSBN Brandy and Clackamas River Cleanup Aug 18th

Steven Cason 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate Forged 2012.

Our normally scheduled Special Trainings will be every other week from now until the end of the test.  BSBN Brandy challenged us today.  For me the mountain climbers were the most difficult to continue forward with, my legs were burning big time by the time the 5th set came up.  All in all I have a good sense of accomplishment after doing the work out.  This is for Beatrice, sorry for leaving the big puddle of sweat on the floor.  Next time I will bring my towel out.

CGN Bo and I talked late last week and would like to open our river trip up to anyone in the Aim High family who can secure a life jacket and floatation device.  I would love to have a larger group.  The only thing is anyone who is not on the current list will need their own equipment.  An inner tube and life jacket is adequate for the stretch of river we will be on.

Having participated in the clean up sponsored by We Love Clean Rivers (which occurs on Sept 9th this year) the last 3 years I can guarantee anyone who joins us will be appalled by how much garbage is on this river.  Last year they collected approximately 3.5 tons of garbage from this stretch.

Steven Cason

muscular desiese i think i spelled that wrong

Hello agin black belt team im really excited about this blog because today i was raising money for the "fight MDA (muscular dystrophy)." basicly we went in front of the hillsboro airport and started holding up signs as cars passed by some would roll down there windows i help by putting theyre money in a big fire fighter boot then that money would go to the children that have that diseise. On the other hand my job was by holding up a sign that says "FIGHT MDA!" it was such a blast we collected so much money for those children i feel very good about helping these children i was at the evnt for 30 minutes and in that period of time we got about 5,000 Dollars WOW!!! thats alot and im so happy that we helped really good people today i almost fee like im complete! :D Have an awsome day! good luck on your and our black belt test you all can do it YEAH!!!! sincerly, Clark.Ahrendt :( :) :D

my status with karate :D

Hello everybody its me again (Clark) so remember when i told you that things were going to changte like me cutting out electronics for me as in not playing video games and eating healthier foods no gluten or corn syrup and i would run more ofter well guess what i actually keeping up to my word i can now have no stomach aches because im eating healthier and im also kepping up with my running i can run alot faster and farther now and i got rid of my crocs for running hahah! :D but i feel like i can keep up to my words and i can challenge myself to make me a better person but i am strugling on my acts of kindness and enviromental acts of kindness i fear i may not make it on those but i have a good plan which is to purposely do aton of acts of kindness every single day. I hope that you all enjoy my blogs and have a great evening and also if you have any feed back you want to give to me then feel free to do that because feedback always helps me out especially now adays. You guys and girls are all very awsome have a awsome day! :( :) :D sincerly, Clark.Ahrendt

Back from camping trip!

Hey team I am back from my camping trip! It was a really cool experience. Now was the only time I had to write about it since we were unpacking yesterday. Anyway, the main highlight of my trip was when my dad and I were kayaking, and when we were halfway back to shore, there was a family on a paddle boat who said their boat was sinking. There was another group there with us who tried to help them too. Both of us groups latched on to them and started paddling back to shore. Everyone was calm, but the boy (about my age) was crying his eyes out. Then, CGN Jenalyn paddled by with Jae Jae and she offered to help by paddling back to shore and getting a lifeguard to come get us. My dad was blowing the emergency whistle the boat renter gave us and everyone looked at us, but didn't really care. Shortly after that, an old man paddle up to us and offered some rope and a fishing chain to use because at that particular moment some poor mom was grabbing onto both boats acting as a rope. My dad and I turned around, and that's when we found out that our kayak takes really wide turns .
It took us forever to get over there, and my arms were extremely tired. After a long session of paddling, a lifeguard in a wooden rowboat came by. The family in the sinking leg-powered paddle boat went in the rowboat and the lifeguard went into the sinking boat. After all of that, everyone made it back to shore safely. That was about 600 rows back, so that was pretty crazy. When I told Jae Jae, she said she did the same thing EARLIER!
That was a really big workout for me, but I think my dad did at least 60% of the work, considering the fact that it was my first time.

Good morning everyone!

Last week I talked to kjn Jeremy on substituting some of videos with my photography. I have to say I'm quite excited for this.  There are so many ways to go with this- with banners, diptychs, and triptychs,  photo albums, etc. Kjn Jeremy asked me why I haven't asked to do photography earlier. Truth is, I never really thouht I could change that part of my test. This just reinforces the fact that if you're having trouble with requirements or curriculum that there are so many people that have done this before and can help us out with our test.
Sorry Jonathan and I aren't there for today's special training. I'm currently writing this as we're heading up to Lost Lake for a camping trip that my family had planned this weekend. I'll update u guys on the trip when we come back.

Distracted

Hey everyone, as some of you know I was out of town last week for my Grandma's funeral, I have been trying to settle back in to routine these last couple days, and while that is no excuse for not completing my requirements I am being honest in saying that it has not been a part of my priorities this last week. This yet again brings me back to the idea of balance. I am a very all or nothing type of person, and for me and how I have been in martial arts means training A LOT! I struggle with and feel bad about not being there and additionally getting out of the routine swings me to the nothing end of things where I have a hard time getting motivated to be doing what I need to do. I realize that at this point in the test that there is no room for that, I hope that all of you were as affected by Master Tom's disappointment in us as I was. It was hard to think that after all the work I have put in up to this point, it did not show during his class with us. I realize what our expectations are and want to exceed them, not fall short. I will be pushing myself to do this but may need help from time to time to ensure I do not slip or get distracted, please check in with me if I am not there either physically or mentally.  I could really use that team mentality now.

IM BACK!!!

Hello team as you can probably tell i am finally back from my long ten day trip.And when i came back i had come up with a plan to becoming not only more fit but becoming more healthier so i can train better in doing so i am not playing a single electronic thing until the end of my blacl belt test and im running twice a week every week starting this week an i am completely cutting out glutten from my diet and eating more salads i hope that by doing this i can become more fit than i nwas before if you have any advice for me or any tips please just leave a response for me and i will accept it. THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLOG :D and its really good to be back again doing karate. sincerly, clark to: The black belt team

Monday Workout and Operation Shoebox

Steven Cason Forged 1st degree black belt candidate 2012

As usual I had lots of fun working out with the gang last night.  I learned quite a bit about proper execution of forms (not just Palgwe 4 which KJN detailed out with us).  I try to remember what works well in one form will also apply to all the other forms I am executing.  I try not to forget that.

I was tickled when I was prepping the group to start working on our Operation Shoebox project when Antonio let me know he is already working on collecting old cell phones to allow calling cards to be provided to the soldiers overseas.  If Antonio is willing I would love to see an Operation Shoe Box cell phone collection performed at the studio much like a food drive.  I would love to see Antonio make a pitch to BKJN Dan and KJN Jeremy to do that.  Meanwhile everyone see if you have any old unused cell phones at home so they can be donated for this good cause.  ALSO DO NOT FORGET TO WIPE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION YOU HAVE ON ANY PHONE DONATED FOR THIS.

I will meet with our group on Wednesday at 7 to talk about how the rest of the group will be able to participate in this project.

Steven Cason

Urgent News about Training tomorrow!

Hey team I just found out through CGN Jenalyn that there IS NO FORGED TRAINING TOMORROW planned due to the Camping Trip. I am sorry that this is last minute and couldn't contact each of you individually. Ironically, I decided to get everyone's phone # and/or email on Saturday just in case this kind of thing happened. You probably won't see this message until you come back from AHAMA. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience but this was the only way to inform you about this situation. I will get everyone's email and/or phone # on Monday.

Junior Black Belts (Please read)

After last night, my dad and I have been talking about it, and we started to come up with ways to support our opinion (letting kids test for their black belt, no matter what age). The end result sounded like this: "I think kids should be able to test for their black belt because kids have the ability to train just like adults. They may not be able to do the same things in some cases, but can push just as hard and put the same amount of effort as an adult would. If the argument is not being able to fulfill certain requirements due to age restrictions, would that mean older people couldn't test for their black belt either? Both age groups have the ability to PUSH as hard as an adult tester would. To me, it's not about doing each specific requirement, but is about putting the same amount of effort into it if you can't do the same exact requirments."

Please post your thoughts on this topic because I have a feeling we are going to have to support our opinion and I would like to hear everyone's ideas to make 1 big presentation about this.

Adventures in Hawaii #2: Sparring

On my second and final day, we had sparring class.  The bad news was that I didn't bring my sparring gear from home. The good news was that a nice instructor their let me borrow his gear, which was a little to big for me, but not uncomfortably big. I was matched up with kids who were close to my age. One was Brown (I believe that is the second to last belt before black belt there), one was a green belt, but both were 13.  The do a 3 point system, which means 3 points to win.  They also have a different partnering system.  Other than that, the rules are the same as if you were at a tournament.  My first sparring round was with the brown belt. I noticed that they have many techniques of sparring, (I think that's interesting) and they seem to be they kind of people who wait for you to come to them before they attack. I got 3 points, the other boy got 2 points. Then, I started sparring the second guy. I actually lost that one because we were both tied and he snuck in a point while I was attacking.  I learned that an important thing to remember while sparring is blocking yourself as much as possible, even if you are attacking. After that, my dad and I went to talk to the instructor, Sifu Iverson, to trade our forms.

Wait for my next Kajukenbo story in "Adventures in Hawaii #3: Sharing Forms"!

RFKC

Last week I went out to Royal Family Kids Camp and helped the kids get ready and dressed for a fancy dinner and dance. What an amazing organization!!! I heard about the camp from BSBN John Leitner and from Jean Edwards the founder of the company I work for. She is such an amazing person and a true role model for me. I am looking forward to speaking with her as one of my interview projects. Jean is the camp director and has done many things to help these children. They had dresses, shoes and purses that the girls got to pick out and wear and the boys wore tuxedos. The girls had their hair done, their nails done and some makeup. You could tell that for many of them this was something they had never experienced other than at camp. Not only did it help to build their confidence, they got to keep the dress and purse that they picked out. Many of the children are in foster  homes and have been moved around many times throughout their lives. They have a one on one mentor/camp counselor who they spend time with throughout the week of camp that they build a rapport with and for many this becomes one of the few positive relationships that they have had with an adult. Our instructors also spent some time down there teaching the kids martial arts, there was also swimming, horseback riding, dress up, arts and crafts, woodwork and other camp activities. You could see the excitement and appreciation that the kids had for the experience. It was a great reminder to appreciate the supportive childhood I had. I have such a great respect for the children who I encountered while I was there. I could see the strength in their spirits and the ability to have fun despite the rough circumstances and backgrounds that they had come from.

Fun with Master Callos and Essential Tremors

Steven Cason Forged 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate 2012

I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoyed my time with Master Callos tonight.  We all had a great time in the Adult class practicing payload delivery (where we strike the pad and run through our opponent covering our face as we spin and turn).

I can see a lot of similarity between his teaching style and KJN and BKJN's.  In other words I can see where their roots are.

I also enjoyed our time together with the Forged team. Especially when he was talking about Empathy.

This brings me to the second section of my blog this week.

I work with a person who has a disease called Essential Tremors which is a dysfunction in which the person will be subject to uncontrollable shaking.  He has always enjoyed working with his hands but it was painful to watch him as he was trying to install a circuit board in a PC or tighten a screw.  He always struggled with it and was able to get the job done but it just took a lot of concentration and will power.  I have always admired him for being able to keep a good attitude and deal with his condition.

Recently his medications lost their effectiveness in controlling the shaking so he opted to have a surgical procedure done in which he had two metal rods inserted into his brain and then wires were run from the rods to a device similar to a pace maker.  After his surgery was completed he then went to his doctor and they turned the device on.  He said after a couple of hours of tuning the system up his shaking has disappeared.  He demonstrated for me earlier this week at work and his hands are rock solid steady.

I am just amazed at what medical science can accomplish now.  And how courageous this man is to allow a complete stranger drill two holes in his head and run rods into the base of his brain.

Moral of the story is don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Steven Cason

im back!

Hello again team im back and i kind of wanted to talk about last mornings satuday training when we went running that running had hurt me so bad i came with no preparing when i ran i felt like giving up but i have come up with a plan so since the running had made feel bad i decided that if i can pace myself and do more running then i can acheive my goal into becoming a better runner i know i cant give up i am given the choice to but i always say no i wont stop until i am forced to so thats my plan and by the time the next saturday morning training comes ill be ready. oh by the way quick updater on my schedule i am going to be missing 3 classes because i am going on a trip to Chicago yyyaaaaaayyyyyy! but that means that today is my last class and im going to give it my all have a great day! sincerly,clark ahrendt p.s: im really sorry that i havent blogged in a long time but dont worry im going to be blogging more often now.

Adventures in Hawaii #1: Forms

              Hey team! I just came back from my trip in Hawaii yesterday, and I am happy to share some of the things I have done there. I'm sorry I couldn't blog before, but the WiFi wasn't working well or wasn't free there. Let the stories begin!

              When I first walked into the place I trained at, Kajukenbo, I was amazed. It looked like a gym, had 2 bathrooms on one side, along with a fountain, and on the other end was this massive stage to put your gear. For practicing, I was put in the back with the white belts. I noticed some things that were different compared to Aim High right off the bat. First of all, they don't sound off. The second thing I noticed is that their Ready Position for forms are different, and they call their forms their Kata. They have black squares on the floor to tell the students where and how to line up. Before class started, the head teacher, Sifu Erica, introduced me to the class. Apparentley, they have students come from the Mainland to train at their school all the time! After that, we did warm ups and then forms. During forms, I learned Kata #1, their first form. (It took a lot of practice afterwards, but I eventually got it). At the end of class, we bowed to the picture of the founder (passed away), bowed to the instructors, and bowed to the other students. Kajukenbo is awesome!        

Saturday Training and Ear infections

Steven Cason Forged 1st degree Black Belt Candidate

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hard for me.  I have had constant head aches and eye and tooth pain at work it just didn't want to go away.

I finally went to the doctor on Friday turns out I have an Ear infection.  The pain is still there but hopefully when the antibiotics kick in it will go away.  It is always surprising to me how something like this can impact both attitude and performance.

Just so everyone knows I will be in training on Monday but will be on a family camping trip Tuesday through Friday this week.  I will be at special training on Sat the 14th.

I want to thank both Jenalyn and Jonathon for putting together an interesting work out on Saturday morning.  The work stations were good for me and the kick boxing drills were very good for me.  I was able to rep some of the techniques BSBN John Wright had worked on with us a couple of weeks ago.

I would also like to express my special thanks to CGN Holly for spending the time with me in forms class last Thursday to spec out the X stance and break down Palgwe 6 with me in detail much appreciated.

Time to get ready for the camping trip!

Steven Cason

Empathy

Hey team I am writing just to say how excited I am for us all to be back to routine, I am hoping that I will be able to be at special training in the morning. I am currently sitting in the emergency room and am having  a feeling it is going to be a late night. I am working with a client who has dementia and is very confused. She has been screaming for the last 3 hours and I am feeling bad because I am not able to comfort her. I have tried everything from singing, teddy bears, talking to her and holding her hand.This for me is not specifically my empathy training but that is what comes to mind. She is in a strange place with strange people and unable to say what is upsetting her. This makes me appreciate my ability to communicate and also makes me empathize with the staff who work with her regularly and part of their job is to try and comfort her. It has been especially difficult because a little over a year ago, I used to manage the house that she lives in. When I was there she could make her own lunch and do most daily tasks on her own. This is such a drastic change from who she used to be and I feel very bad for her. It reminds me to appreciate every moment and everything that I am capable of, you never know when you may be unable to do those.things anymore. Hopefully I will see you guys in the morning, but if not please understand that I am with you in spirit!

Saturday Workout Steven Cason

Steven Cason Forged 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate.

I just wanted to thank Jenalyn and Jonathon for organizing these Saturday workouts and keeping them going.  Also CGN Devon and Holly Phillips for donating their Saturday morning for our cause.

Ann Marie and Clark you guys did great gutting out the run to Sunset High and back.

All in all it was fun and as everyone knows we can always use more aerobic workouts.

Thanks to all who participated.

Steven

Testing this week

Wow is it good to be back in routine! What a great and surprising way to come back, testing!!! It was nice to split it up and focus so much on sparring and grappling last night, those for me are the two most difficult things. I struggle with remembering to keep good technique when I am trying to think of what to do next in sparring, but even though it is hard I always enjoy the intensity of the workout. In grappling I really enjoy it but when it comes to free rolling I get confused. I will get all excited when I get a technique, like "yay! I got this person in half guard, I know what it is!!!.......now what ?!?" I am looking forward to more awesome Saturday workouts with Cgn Bo to improve my skills, what an awesome resource we have in him!

Environmental Act

Today we went to Aloha-Huber Park to do a clean-up.  We walked around the field and picked up bottles, cans, and plastic bags.  We also found half of a watermelon.  I was really disappointed to see so many things just lying around at a school field.  I know it's summer and school's out, but we should still treat the schools with respect.  Many families have picnics during the summer, which could cause an increase in litter.  As a black belt tester, it is our responsibility to take the initiative and clean these parks up.  Cleaning up the trash helps keep the environment healthy, as well as making the experience great for future visitors.

Clean Up

On the Sunday, the whole family went to Aloha-Huber elementary to play some basketball. When playing we noticed that the whole park was kind of in dissaray, there was trash everywhere. I noticed the single trash can was overflowing with garbarge. We could have tried to pick stuff up, but it wouldn't have made much difference since the wind would've blown it out of the trash can all over again. Instead, Jonathan and I went back ( with our own garbage bags) today to clean up  the remaining trash that we saw on the field and play area. There was even a half eaten watermelon! Though the trash can had been emptied and there was a new garbage bag in, people were ignoring the trash around them. It's sad to see a park in that state, and after picking up a garbage bag full of trash, the park became a lot cleaner.

Health

After over a week of feeling terrible, I have a lot of catching up to do.  I'm behind on some of my numbers, but I'm also exceeding others.  I'm not fully recovered yet, so I have a lot of work to do in order to get back on track.  On Monday during training, I wasn't performing at my best, and I felt bad.  Today during sparring, I hope to be feeling a little better, but there are no guarantees.  All I can do is give it all that I can, which is what our team needs to do for our test.  On grading day in October, it won't matter if you are sick, injured, or didn't get enough sleep.  Everyone will be giving it their all and fight through their pain.  What I can do right now to prepare myself is try to get better and give it my all in every class.

I started boot camp yesterday at the edge and it feels great. I hope to incorporate more of those classes in my training this summer.  As I was waiting for my dad at Aim High, Zoe and I were able to go over our open forms. She was able to give me tips and suggestions, which I was grateful for. Tomorrow, my siblings and I are planning on completing another environmental act at Aloha Huber Park. More details on that later!

Monday Steven Cason

Steven Cason Forged 1st Degree Black Belt Candidate

Well we all have another test past us!  For the 1st degree team we need to see how we did later this week.  Waiting drives me nuts.  I generally want immediate feedback (just my nature I guess).

When I was working last night I saw a big difference in my partners, with some our energy seemed to feed off of each other and it made us stronger with others it seemed hard to get moving.  All we can do now is wait and see how we have been evaluated.

Steven Cason

Monday ...

I know that some of us were caught off guard by today's test. In the end the instructors do that to make sure that everyday we are pushing ourselves to our limits. After class today BSBN John came up to me and told me some things that I can improve on my kicking. I have been spending extra time on forms and grappling lately,  I need to start focusing on other aspects of my curriculum as well.

On another note, today on Facebook I saw a video of my 2 year cousin Kira doing kicks and punches with Sam. It reminded me of Jordan when he was on the sidelines watching  Jonathan, Jae, and I do class. This past Saturday, when I asked Jordan what he was drawing, he said that he was writing down possible affirmations for himself. All jordan can think about is being a ninja. It's exciting to see kids who start so young and still continue in martial arts all the way to their black belt. It's hard to dedication from kids, and to see them commit themselves to this sport is awesome.

Monday

Today we went over everything we needed for our phase test thinking it was a review.  However, it was really our test.  Having these surprise tests allow us to check ourselves to make sure we are on top of our games every day.  Although we didn't know we were being tested, we still should have been performing at 110%.  I'm still not feeling 100%, and I know I struggled with my intensity a little.  I was able to bring it back up though, and I feel that everyone did a good job of bringing the intensity up at the end.  We are sparring on Wednesday, and I hope everyone is ready.

Motivational letter

Dear Chelsea,
I am glad that you are testing this year. Although I know it has been a challenge it will all be worth it in October. This experience is  something you will never forget. Continue to keep high energy even when it is hard and show the same committment to your teammates that they have shown you. Lead by example and  bring that leadership to class every time you train, but more than that bring it out of the dojo and  into the world. If you commit yourself to every life challenge the way you have committed to this test you will be successful. Face every challenge in life with a smile and know you are strong enough to get through it. ASPIRE TO INSPIRE!!

Sorry this is late!

Intensity in Trainings

We are about 3 months out from our test in October, so now it's time to step it up.  Everyone needs to be on top of their games in every training.  With phase testing coming up, we really need to step up the level that we train at.  We will not be able to perform at 110% if we don't train every time at 110%.  If everyone tries to be more intense than their partner, we'll have a great experience.  Healthy competition brings out the best in all of us, so we need to make sure we're pushing each other to our limits.  Phase testing is this week, so I can't wait to see what everybody's got!

Self -Motivational Letter

I'm glad that you have decided to take on this big commitment. You have pushed through the difficult and stressful times and you haven't quit. I'm glad that you pushed yourself this year in doing forms for a tournament; you can see improvement in your technique. The dedicate you put in what you do shows in your performance.
- this journal post was last week's topic.  I'm sorry it's a little late

Aim High's Curriculum

Aim High's fusin curriculum is a mixture of styles ranging from Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai Kickboxing, Western Style Kickboxing, Jui Jitsu, Filipino Escrima Stick Fighting and basic self defense. Learning these different styles allows you to be able to draw from different techniques when fighting or when you're trying to defend yourself. I'm glad that Aim High offers specialty classes like kickboxing, weapons,forms, etc. While the main curriculum helps you to be more well-rounded, those classes allows you to develop skills in a specific area. I use to participate in weapons class and really enjoyed it, but stopped due to scheduling. Hopefully I can get back into that this summer.

beach fun and a deep dune with a serious enviromental act of kindness

HELLO TEAM so i just wanna start off with saying wazzup team! :D i just got back from a long 1 week trip at the beach and boy am i excited to tell you what happened. thanks to my dad and the support of my family i was able to perform a mojor enviromental act of kindness and get it done so leme fill you in on what i did. so i went around to 4 beaches one was sunset bay we didnt get any garbage from that then the next one was strawberry hill we caught alot of garbage in that area there was tissue paper everwhere and broken glass so we picked up alot! after strawberry hill we found ourselves at another beach named neskowin beach wow that beach was a dream one we found absolutely no garbage on the beach! last but not least we have the all amazing cape kiwinda! it had so much garbage though we picked up trash socks bottles glass plastic bags agh! SO MUCH GARBAGE! overall i had a great time at all of these beaches. i think i really did help the invorment physicaly and mentally also at cape kiwanda there was a huge dune that was about 100ft tall! i climbed up and ran down it well actually i ran down it 3 times but ran up 2 times i think i might suggest this to bkjn daniel or kjn jeremy and then for training you would have to climb up it and stuff ya know! :D well i hope your having a great summer iand good luck on phase 3 have a great day night or evening! sincerly, clark.ahrendt

Back to routine

Got back today from Missouri and am feeling bittersweet about it, I am looking forward to being back in routine but am really missing my family already. I got back into it with healthy grocery shopping rows, sit ups and spending time reviewing for the testing requirements and where I should be. I had a major act of kindness and a major environmental act scheduled this last weekend but being out of town longer than expected means that I am one short on those at this point. At this point I am feeling overwhelmed and very drained. I am looking forward to class tomorrow and seeing everyone!

Saturday Training

At our training yesterday, the attendance was great! We had a lot more people show up than the previous training.  I was sick last week, so I was glad to be back.  During the training, we worked on review for phase testing.  We worked sticks first, and it was great having a larger group so we were able to switch partners often.  Later on, we did the adrenal circle as a big group.  That was very interesting, because we had people of all sizes.  Everyone did great, and it was fun to be able to work together.  After that, we worked with partners or individually on whatever we needed more review on for phase testing.  Overall, this training was great, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Ninja Warrior Camp

Last week was Ninja Warrior camp at the studio, and it was great!  Ninja Warrior is a TV show where competitors face some of the craziest obstacles imaginable.  I'm a big fan of Ninja Warrior, so I was excited to be able to work the camps.  Aim High summer camps are a great place for Aim High students to hang out, but this year we saw many new faces.  About half of all of the campers were kids who have never taken a class with us, so it was great to have them.  We had the kids do crazy obstacle courses just like the TV show, and we also made cool swords and ninja masks.  We even taught them some kicks and punches.  It was a great experience and I am looking forward to the Olympics camp in July.  For all of the other testers, this is a great opportunity to volunteer and get some experience working with kids, while still having some fun.  Hope to see some of you there!

Open Forms

With phase testing coming up this week, I have really tried to focus on my open form.  Second degree candidates need to have 3/4 of their open form.  Since the last phase test, I have changed my music several times and have also completely changed my routine.  I'm still having a hard time with transitioning between combos, but I feel like this form is a lot better than my previous one.  Timing is one of the biggest issues I have right now.  I don't always have my music with me, so some moves fit with it in my head but don't translate well when the music is actually playing.  Finding the perfect match between moves and music results in an epic open form.  I'm excited to see what my teammates have to offer, as well as my own form.

My Saturday

Today was a good day. I'm happy to say we got better attendance for special training today; I'm thankful that more people could make it. It was good to go over things that we would be tested over. It was a long day at work, but Jonathan and I were able to review knife disarms with KJN, which I needed to review before the test. Never be hesitant to ask if you don't know something, the instructors are always glad to help. I watched some of the testing for the kids today, and its always nice to see thier smiles afterwards. This evening I also got to hang out with my friend. Most of my friends are moving for college, and though I'll be able to see them if they can come back for holidays, we won't be hanging out constantly anymore. We talked about making summer count, since everyone would be leaving soon. Monday is the first day of college. I'm taking a summer course in Math. Work, school, hanging out in the sun with friends; I'm excited to get the rest of my summer started. :)

Good week of Ninja Warrior Camp

Hi guys! Yesterday marked the end of Ninja Warrior Camp. I was only there half days but it was still tiring. Kids need to be constantly entertained and you need to have a lot of games and crafts in store for them. What was suprising about this camp was that the majority of the kids were not Aim High students. They have either have been referred by friends or have seen our website, etc. By the end of the week though you had a couple parents asking about the teachers and classes and wanting to join which is exciting.

Traveling

Hey  everyone sorry I did not make it to training Saturday or Monday, I will be missing the rest of this week as well. I am in Missouri visiting my family, I was planning on only being here til yesterday but I changed my ticket when I found out that my Grandma is not doing very well. I have struggled keeping consistent with my training so far, I have been doing my pushups and situps and on Saturday I went on a 5mile run/walk at a nature park with my cousins. This week has been spent at the nursing home helping my Grandma and it is too hot and humid to be outside during the day, and the nursing home is not really the most appropriate place to do workouts. I will be back and hitting it hard soon though. I am also newly inspired. One of my cousins is training for a full ironman triathalon. He makes my workouts look like nothing. He gets up at fourforty five to run or swim for and hour and a half and in the evenings he rides his bike for three and a half hours or may run 20 miles. It is very intense and he is very good at what he is doing. In the training races he has done while working up to this he has been on the podium all but once. My running even for the half marathon would have really only been a warm up for him. He had some great training tips and I am looking forward to getting back in routine, but am truly enjoying the time spent here. One of my aunts and I were having a conversation and I was commenting that it was exciting to see everyone. She said "honey, life is exciting!" That has stuck with me every moment this week. Each smile, laugh and conversation with eachother is something that I am fully appreciating. I am so blessed to have so many amazing people in my life! Miss you all!

Saturday Workouts

Hey gang!

There has been a lot of press this week on the Saturday work outs so I thought I would give you my input on it as well.

First I want to thank Jenalyn, Jonathan, and Bo for being willing to invest their personal time on us and this test.  And also for their infinite patience with me as I train with them.  I don't know about the rest of you but my experience is a person's most valuable asset is their time.  Believe me I appreciate all the effort you are putting into this to make us feel welcome.

This is how I have decided to treat this.  Every Saturday (barring emergencies) is scheduled on my calendar for these workouts.  If I have other tasks I need to finish for testing I will figure out how to get them done after 8:30 when the training ends.

I would like to challenge everyone to pick a different person to pair up with each Saturday.  The only way to get to know someone is to do something with him.  There may be some practical limitations with this for example, Grayson and I may not be a good pairing for ground fighting (since I out weigh him approximately 3 to 1) but we can certainly work well together on forms, kicks, weapons, etc. and I am open to constructive criticism from anyone on our team.  We owe each other this criticism.

Remember as we do activities together we will grow closer.  We will learn each others strengths and weaknesses and hopefully become friends in the process.

See everyone on Saturday.

Steve

Self motivational post for Steven Cason

You have inspired me to continue with martial arts and pursue my black belt.  I have trained with you and you never quit, you just keep going and you helped me by doing that.  I can see the improvements you have made in technique as we have trained together and you are growing as a martial artist.  I enjoy your humor and dedication to the arts.  Keep on going you will succeed.

Silly as it may seem someone actually told me some of what I wrote above early in our training this year.  Not all but some.  I still think about that when I am feeling tired, depressed, or overwhelmed during this process and it helps.

Recap

It's been a busy couple of weeks, and i apologize for neglecting some of those journal entries. I have just recently graduated, and it feels weird. I have been at ACMA (my school) for 7 years and there is going to be new and exciting changes in the next couple of months. With the graduation and all, I have had a lot of family in town visitng. Jonathan and I weren't present last week in class so we can spend time with our family. Most of our family came from out of town, and they wanted to see new things and eat out at well-known resturaunts. From that week of going out, it's very hard to stay true to a black belt diet. Everybody would be ordering burgers and getting sodas, while you're the one ordering salad. Also when having everyone around, try to remember that moderation with food is key.

Saturday Training

This past Saturday was our second Forged group training.  Although we made the trainings optional, the hope was that we would see everybody there.  Training for your black belt is a big milestone, and if you aren't willing to make it to these trainings, this isn't the year.  I know it seems harsh, and I know some people had reasons for not making it, but we are just a few months away and I still feel like we have a lot of work to do.  That being  said, we still have time to really focus on our training as we come closer to the test.

The reason I was not present on Saturday was because I was sick.  Your health is a very important part to your test, and although we want to feel like we're pushing ourselves to the limit, we must watch our health.  It doesn't matter how many push ups and sit ups you've done, or how many acts of kindness or forms repetitions you've done if you're not in one piece in October.  If you are sick or injured, take a break and recover so you are back to 100% next class.  Coming back today, I still wasn't 100%, and I felt it.  However, it was very fun to come back to class to train with everyone!

my last blog for next week

HELLO TEAM this is clark and my 23/40 journal topic Dear clark you attitude is unbreakable you can do anything i feel that you have great capabilities inside of you you hold the key but you need to take that key and unleash your fury inside you when you do that anything you set your mind to can be accomplished this letter isnt a complement its a fact and everyone knows that it is i hope that this message reaches you not only reach your hands but touuch your thoughts have a great day. sincerly, clark to, clark hey guys thank you so much for reading my letter this means alot to me hey dont keep those opinoins inside of you share them with me comment on my letter and tell me what i could have done better . bye guys have a great day! :D sincerly, cklark.a by the way this is my last blog for a week im really sorry you guys well i see you all in 1 week bye!! :D

Saturday Training

Hey team I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the training on Saturday. My dad had overslept from working to hard and I set my alarm incorrectly, so we couldn't make it. If we left to go there, we would be late by the time we got there. It was both of our faults because both of us failed to set our alarms properly, by either setting our phones to vibrate, or setting alarm to PM instead of AM. I have already begun to make up for it by doing some cardio, sit ups, and push-ups. I plan to continue making up for it by jogging, doing pull ups/rows, more cardio, more push-ups, more sit-ups, and coming up with a Bo Staff routine. Again, I am sorry I couldn't make it, and Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

epic faces and cleanups! :D

HELLO TEAM!!! today i had a great but sad day the great day is because i did another one of my solve major enviromental acts again the bad part: i had to miss training that was the only rason why i had missed out on it but i would have loved to be there. so for my major enviromental act i did a fresh water muscle search and rescue. i had only found 3 because they blended in with the rocks in the creek that i was searching in but the foundation was called johnson creek so there was aton of preshwater muscles. i had such a great time at the search and rescue for fresh water muscles but again i had to miss out on training..... well thank you all so much for listening or reading my blog have a great day! sincerly, clark.ahrendt. :):):):):):):):):):) :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Talent Show II

Hey guys thanks for coming to my talent show on Tuesday. Everyone loved the act, and they were most surprised when we turned on our light sabers. My friend Cooper was trying to record it on his 3DS, but he told me later that he didn't have very good lighting. A few mistakes were made, like how I hit Jae Jae's foot in the beginning, how someone hit the curtains, how someone didn't Keyup. We also had a backstage catastrophe. A minute before it was time for us to go on, we grabbed the light sabers. Taylor and I have Bo Staff light sabers, and have 2 separate flash lights. When we got them, Taylor's 2 flashlights were stuck together. We were all panicking that we wouldn't make it on time. Eventually, we got it fixed. At the end, all of the performers went backstage and congratulated each other. I learned a few things about Tuesday's performance that I applied to Wednesday's performance. Too bad Wednesday was the last day of school...

Hello im responding to weekly journal # 22 yay! so i just kindof wanted to talk about how it feels to train in a karate studio with many others forms of karate not only do i learn more but i can appply myself to more things. some of the things ive learned are martial arts ju jitsu mma sparing all that stuff it is so great! thanks for listening to my blog allso i would love to share that if you guys would like to have any large enviromental acts come to to me we can arange a SOLVE event its a group thatr devotes a part of theyre life to cleaning oregon!

peace out black belt testers!   :D

have a great summer

sincerly, Clark Ahrendt

Kick a thon

I can't speak for anyone else but I had a good time Saturday at the Kick a thon.  It was a lot of fun.

My goal was 3000 and I made it to 3290 so I was pleased with my performance.  It wasn't the high count but non the less a good work out for an older guy I thought.  I thought this was a good test for our endurance and aerobic condition at this point.

Clark was a big help to me but he did tell me to rest a bit more than I thought he should have.  After the event he told me I was shaking (it must have been with excitement or anticipation - on second thought just cause I was a bit tired).  Thanks for the support Clark.

Steven Caosn

Kick-A-Thon

Hey team! Congratulations to those who took part of the Kick-A-Thon! At first, I didn't have a counter, but then a nice man got up and volunteered to count for me. I was going pretty fast doing a real set of kicks (kick,set down, kick, set down) instead of machine gun kicks. At one point, I reached 1,000 kicks. Before I knew it, I was at 1,500, and then 2,000! When I looked around, it looked like a couple of people were cheating. When they told us to do pop-up kicks, some people were jumping at all, and a lot of people were doing machine gun kicks even though I was sure you weren't supposed to. I got a total of exactly 2,900 kicks. There was this one person who did 94 more kicks than I did, and he/she was doing machine gun kicks. Another person who cheated did something like 3,914 kicks, and he/she took 3 water breaks. I saw that person do machine gun kicks, and yet that person still did more than 1,000 more than I did. Was I supposed to make them perfect, or just fast?

Talent Show Tomorrow (Read this)

Hey team I won't count this one but I was wondering if any of you would like to come to my school, Kinnaman Elementary, tomorrow at 6:00 PM for my talent show. It is based off the latest demo theme (Star Wars) and some of it is kind of copied, but modified from the demo. I understand that you may not be able to come because of your schedule, but it would be nice if you came to see Jordan, JD,       Jae Jae, Taylor and I perform at our school.  It is not required to do the background check, and keep in mind that the show will be 1-2 hours and we WILL be last (save the best for last!).  Please come and/or wish us luck!

P.S. Do you guys really read other people's blogs? 
P.S.S  I also have a qeustion; is getting 100% on a pre-test considered a WOW?

Mixed martial arts system

The blended system of martial arts that we learn at Aim High is a chance to learn basics and some advanced techniques in a variety of styles. The goal seems to be to create a well rounded martial artist and to be able to have enough knowledge in each area that we could defend ourselves effectively from a variety of attacks. For me it has been a great system because I like to learn and have the constant variety that our classes provide. As I have grown as a martial artist I am continually amazed and intrigued by the amount and variety of different styles of martial arts, and how complex the different systems can be. I have also appreciated it in understanding more about myself as a martial artist and what my strengths and weaknesses are physically and mentally. For example I really enjoy kickboxing and have spent more time outside of regular classes attending BSBN John's kickboxing classes. I enjoy it and look forward to it every week. I have learned that one of my strengths is being able to remember complicated combos and my basics in kickboxing have improved quite a bit. The area that I most struggle in is applying the techniques in a sparring situation. For me this is true of the tae kwan do sparring as well as the jiu jitsu system. This is motivating me to really focus on how to improve that and pay extra attention to application of techniques and not just memorizing them.  Our system of mixed martial arts at Aim High is a blend of muay thai kickboxing, jiu jitsu, tae kwan do, escrima, western boxing and street wise self defense. I am happy that we have had the opportunity to do so many different styles and have learned what styles I enjoy most. I am also looking forward to using this information that I have learned to create a more specific focus while at the same time continuing the variety and excitement that the mixed martial arts system provides.

Field Day

Hey team! Yesterday at school was this big yearly school event called field day. The 5th graders, like me, had to work this year because it's kind of how we pay back to the people who helped set it up when we were in 4th grade and below. Field Day is a day where people set up a bunch of attraction and games for students to play. They have about 50 stations, you spend 12 minutes with you class at each station, and Field Day is 8 hours long. The fun part about working at Field Day is that you get extra snow cones! I was working at the Standing Long Jump station, where you have to see how far you can jump. Every once in a while, we would get what we called a "Dead Round", because sometimes there wasn't a class during a 12 minute period. Usually, that's when most people sneak off to grab their snow cones, hoping no one comes while their gone. I was signed up to work in the morning, and play in the afternoon, but after lunch break, Mr.Leirman, our PE teacher, asked Mike, Prince, Tony and I to help work at other stations because there wasn't anyone there. I don't know how he pulled our names, but Tony and Mike ran Tether ball, and Prince and I worked at Badminton. It was annoying working with Prince because he's really imature, and he kept on complaining about how bored he was. He even walked up to me and asked "Can I go slack off?". So I told him "Why don't you go ask Mr.Leirman if you can go slack off!". I was getting annoyed by his constant wining. Then, he says "He'll probably say no." "What makes you think I would say 'yes' to you?" I said. He didn't have an answer, so he just walked away. :D. I had the best time of my life on Field Day. I worked with my friends, ate snow cones, and even "out talked" the most laziest kid in the school! The best part is that I get to run the bouncy house when I get older. *Epic Samurai face*

SOLVE enviromental events!

Hello team so you know why i wasn't at the kickathon early? its because i had just did a huge major environmental act of kindness i had helped a group named SOLVE do one of they're environmental acts.
SOLVE is a group of people who dedicate themselves to cleaning up Oregon and other things like streets cities oceans etc. So today i helped them clean by a local grocery store My job was to clean up 23rd and Thurman street both up and down it was so fun! I did this on June 9th throughout the cleanup i was very disappointed in my community out of a 10 pound bag of garbage that i put all my trash in about 75% of the bag was filled with cigarettes and ashes gum wrappers socks almost all the disgusting stuff you can imagine.
i loved the trip it had showed me the amount of garbage that is being polluted it really made me sad on the good part it has made me more active inviromentally. Hey also if you wanted to join one of SOLVES events search em up theyre really awsome they have a ton of events for you to do!


Thank you so much for reading my blog have a great day!

sincerly, Clark ahrendt

to: anyone who reads this!

What it means to study mixed martial arts

Steven Cason Forged 1st degree Black Belt Candidate June 7, 2012

The mixed style of martial arts we study at Aim High is a little bit of Tae Kwon Do, a smattering of American Boxing, a splash of Maui Tai Kickboxing, a dash of Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, a smidgen of Escrima Stick fighting, and traditional Palgwe Pooms.

For me it is interesting to see the commonality between all the techniques we study.  For instance the importance of footwork in sport sparring, kickboxing, and stick techniques.  When studying self defense techniques all of the disciplines come into play for our techniques.  The individual techniques are used as building blocks to put together more advanced and complex activities.

I see advantages to studying a blend of martial arts styles because it gives everyone a bigger tool kit to draw from.  For example if you just study ground fighting then how will you react if you need to box?  Or vice versa if you just study boxing how will you react if you need to go to the ground?

Another advantage is each individual is a little bit different so studying a variety of techniques will allow a person to pick what works best for them. We also need to recognize that as we progress our styles may change as our skill levels improve and some of the techniques that didn't work early in our careers can be developed over time making us stronger martial artists.

I have also tried to follow this philosophy in my personal and professional life.  As I was talking to a co-worker today I mentioned I don't mind correcting mistakes so long as they are some other person's mistake to correct.  Meaning I don't like to make mistakes but if I make one I will admit it and correct it, but my goal is to be able to handle any assignment given to me correctly and also have the depth to clean up any mess that needs to be worked on.  Lets face it.  It is basic survival, no company wants to employ someone who does poor work.  Most companies do want to employ people who can walk into unknown situations and make them work if they weren't working to start with.

The way I have been able to do that professionally is to take assignments on that are slightly beyond my comfort zone.  When I first started work everything was outside of my comfort zone as I matured my confidence and other people's confidence in me grew and so did my ability to solve problems and bring change to organizations I worked for.  The same is true in martial arts.


Steven Cason

Camp Rivendale

Hey everyone! Yesterday all the 5th graders in my school got to go to Camp Rivendale to celebrate graduating from Elementary School!  It was absolutely CRAZY.  There were games all over the field such as Badminton, Horseshoe toss, Tennis, Croquet, and even Volleyball with I giant beach ball!  There were also a bunch of attractions, such as a pin-making booth, photo booth with Rock and Roll props, and a station where you could get bubbles and those boppy balloons.  At about 10:00 AM, the volunteers handed out lemonade.  One person had a really good idea, and it was to poke a hole in their bottle cap so they could just squirt lemonade into his mouth.  After lunch was over, I decided to grab a boppy balloon for my sister, but when the bus came by, I found out that we aren't allowed to bring balloons onto the bus, so I had to pop my balloon.  I even made sure no one messed with it because that was the last boppy balloon that was at the booth.  At least it didn't cost me any money!