2012 in review

I never posted a review of 2012. I’m going to say something about each month.

January: Had a nice New Years visit with my family. Got Kids Coordinator additional training. Excelled at my kid’s day-care outservice. Got my fight offer to fight Hashi. Average month.

February: Accepted the fight offer. Promptly re-injured my knee. I was very active in my company’s union. I swam every day to lose weight to fight and keep my cardio good, because I couldn’t train at all on my knee. I had to hide it from my fans. I worked overtime a lot to try and forget it. Went to the UFC in Japan! That was fun. It was a hellish, stressful month.

March: I fought Hashi in Jewels and lost by decision. It was a poor performance, and I was depressed. I went into work on my days off to try and get my mind off it. Hellish month.

April: disillusioned with MMA. Alex came and stayed with me from Australia. That was fun. She gave me much needed counsel and advice. I hung out with friends a lot, and strengthened those relationships. I went to a sight-seeing place Kappa Bashi, trying to have some fun. Took a Japanese lesson. Visited Nikko. Hard month, but with a lot of fun, interesting times.

May: Goldenweek, the extended holiday in Japan! I started getting my hissatsu-waza a lot in class. I decided to join Groundslam. I got fish. I trained with Max, lifting weights. Got hermit crabs.

June: OFFICIALLY JOINED GROUNDSLAM!!!! <3 <3 I started teaching Katsumura-san English. I started hanging out with Brittany! I started getting regular treatment from an osteopathic therapist, which I thought would solve my troubles. Didn't. Just kept me functioning at bare minimum.

July: Enjoyed the Ayu Festival with Sakura. Lots of Union negotiation. Hung out with Brittany a lot.

August: My friend Tony visited Japan! we trained together and hung out together! We went to the ramen museum and stuff.

September: I did very well on my teacher’s performance evaluation, and I am so incredibly happy about it, I couldn’t stop dancing for weeks. Mom came to visit me!

October: Katsumura-san graduated a level up in our English lessons. 🙂 I did the Niko Niko grappling tournament and volunteer work in Tohoku. I triangle-choked a man! 😀 Great month! I accepted the fight for Sugiyama. I started teaching Brittany Japanese.

November: I hurt my knee, then my ankle. I went to culture day activities with my friend Kozo, which was a lot of fun. I started teaching Omigawa-san English.

Had a thanksgiving party. Stressful month, other than Thanksgiving.

December: Hurt my neck, had to back out of my fight. Second worst week of my life- the first being, when I got food poisoning the night before going into the day of my fight in Sengoku against Akano, and had to pull out. Trouble in many aspects. Hell on earth. Then went to the US to visit family for Christmas. Best Christmas vacation ever! Heavenly.

January 2013: Best New Years visit! Heaven on earth.

Basically, this entire year was me battling injuries and trying to fill my schedule with new, enjoyable, fun experiences, trying to distract myself from them. Now that I reflect and see all my pictures, I realize that I had a lot of amazing experiences. I did so much and achieved a lot. It’s just that fighting is so important to me, that I feel so down that I can’t be where I want to be, and I’m suffering in different ways from it.

I had a really really hard time being my positive self. I was much more positive when I was winning, obviously, but I guess it’s easy to be like that when things are going well. It’s more a test of your character, and it strengthens you more to try and stay positive through the bad times. A lot of good things happened in 2012, but I have to say, overall, I wish things had been different. But I MUST look on the bright sides. I’m supposed to be the Happy Warrior, right? Work was oustanding. ^_^ My social life was great, i.e. I spent more time with friends since I couldn’t train as much.

So this year is off to a bad start, since I got back from vacation. I just saw a doctor about an injury and it doesn’t look good. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I think it’s serious. I have no words. All I can do is enjoy the moment… My New Years Resolutions were to publish my book, and get healthy and stay healthy. But I don’t know if I can do the second one…..

But the light of my life is my work as a teacher, and Groundslam. I’m so happy in both places. …