New Year - 2013

Two years ago to the day I began blogging. Sure, I've had a Blogger account for well over two years but I didn't start using it diligently until two years ago. It was part of a New Year's resolution to put myself out there more. After all, I express myself much better with the written word than with the spoken word. I think it's going well. And for the past two New Years I've done a blog dedicated to some sort of reflection on the year gone by and a looking ahead at the year to come. Better keep the tradition alive, so here we go!

 

At the UFC Gym. That's Olympic bronze
medalist Clarissa Chun and my friend Sheri, they
were high school classmates

My motto of last year was “new year, new ways.” Keep doing the things I enjoy doing but try doing it differently. I think I did that to some extent. I enjoy being active and working out and this year I joined a gym for the first time. Working out at the UFC gym is great, their fitness classes (like Daily Ultimate Training and MMA Fight Fit) are awesome and the people there are either friendly or not a bother. I haven't had any run ins with the stereotypical “meat head” that roams the weight racks and lets loose with echoing bellows with every repetition.

I've kept up with training jiu-jitsu but I'm no longer with Gracie Barra. Professor Caveirinha has opened his own school and now I train with the Caveirinha Jiu-Jitsu Family and at the UFC gym. Having two venues to train at offers a nice variety. I get different perspectives on techniques and a wider range of training partners.

 

Waihe'e Falls (I think)

I didn't go on as many hikes this past year as the year prior but the ones I did were nice. However, I experienced my first trail run, or rather my first non-event trail run. That was a lot of fun. It was like fast paced hiking and I still got to enjoy incredible views. I really should do another one.

 

Then of course there's the writing. If you know me well, you know my main ambition is to publish a novel and this past year I completed the first draft of my book. It's the first of a series titled Hunters. Some of you have read some of it, fewer of you have read all of it, but all of you are welcome to check it out. I appreciate all the feedback that I've received and thank those of you who gave some. It helps tremendously.

After the Warrior Dash.
Good muddy fun!

 

While looking back at what took place, a lot has happened but oddly I don't feel like I did much with the past year. It's a conflicted feeling that I don't fully understand. Weird...Some strange sense of non-accomplishment lingers in my mind and I feel like there's a clock ticking down somewhere. I don't get it really, so enough on that. I'll save it for a different blog.

My buddy Doug got married this past year, one of the highlights
for sure. In the pic: Doug, his nephew Cody, Skip, Biggs, Sean,
Jason, myself, Ben

 

 

So what's in store for 2013? Beats me! I have a few goals already set. I want to finish the Great Aloha Run in under 1 hour. I also want to take a shot in a jiu-jitsu competition. I have not competed at the blue belt level and feel it's time to give it a try. I also want to get my book ready for publication and send it out to publishers to see if anybody will pick it up. Just a note, there will definitely be blogs on each of these topics in the not-so-distant future.

From Charlene's going away party.
She's definitely one of the "fortunate few"

 

In previous years I chose what the theme of the year would be. Last year was “new year, new ways” the year before was “new year, new things.” However, this year I haven't chosen a theme but rather one has evolved on its own in the past few months. It's a sort of “coming to terms” kind of thing. For the most part it has been coming to terms with my age. Now this is not some kind of depressive 'oh woe is me I'm getting old' thing but more coming to terms that I'm grown up. And that's not a bad thing. There have been a few events recently, which I will not get into here, that have made me realize I'm an adult and I should be able to handle some things on my own.

An all-time highlight: meeting Fabio!
Also in the pic: Charlene

 

Then there's coming to terms with what I need to do to become the person I want to be. That's a loaded one and there's still a lot to figure out there but I feel it's essential that I actually do something about it. Take a step forward and see where it leads. I understand I'm speaking – or writing – in vague terms here but it's the best I can do for something I haven't fully figured out yet. After all, it's tough to get specific about events that haven't unfolded yet. Although I do find it interesting that who I want to be is a more important question for myself than what I want to have. Hey maybe that's something I can come to terms with also...

 

Anywho, happy new year to all. 2012 was a good one. I'm glad the world didn't end though I weep at the demise of Twinkies (I'm still keeping hope alive that some company will rescue the nostalgic snack). May we all be able to move closer to our dreams or, for those fortunate few, continue to live them out. 2013 is on! Let's see what we can do with you.

 

 

Hawaii sunrise