Binders

Just wanted to say thank you to Aunt Anna for her help last night with my binder and acts of kindness.  Also want to thank my mom and dad as well as all the generations team for everyone's support and setting up the event.

Let's keep up the great work and finish this year strong!

Kaitlyn Gonzales

- Do or Do Not!

Binders

It was fun having a binder get together with some of the team members tonight.  It was very helpful seeing what everybody else is doing with theirs.  I realized how hard of work it actually is meeting all the requirements and putting it all together, especially if you aren't keeping up with it every week.  It was nice to see all the progress that we have made and to reflect on our accomplishments.  I will see everyone at conditioning tomorrow and have my binder prepared.  T-Berg out!!!

Binders

Binders are due tommarow! Make sure that your binder is ready. Those of you who were at aim high today looking at binders are all pretty much organized except the acts of kindness part and you need just a little more. Keep at it and don't give up. Just make sure your binders are up to date and that you have everything you need you can also use your binder expectation sheet for reference. This part of the test may be hard that's why we have to challenge ourselves in going above and beyond. Remember work hard and dream big.

SEPT. 28. 2013

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED BECAUSE IN 1 DAY I AM 12!!!!!!!!!! but at the same time i kind of am not because first i have Saturday training and i feel confident about my binder except for my PROFILES AND LEADERSHIP PROJECTS  than KJN still has. okay, so after training we have to get home quick because one of my volleyball friend's mom is going to take me to our volleyball game in Vancouver. i wanted to ask KJN  if i could take it a little easy tomorrow because i am going to be sore from my legs. i though sometimes feel overwhelmed because i don't know if any of you remember one of my first posts that i was overwhelmed about my sports, yeah well we are back to there again. on Mondays i have volleyball and right after that finishes i have martial arts. on Tuesdays i have nothing. on Wednesdays i have volleyball and right after martial arts. on Thursdays i have nothing. on Fridays i have volleyball. on Saturdays i have Saturdays training and after that is done, i have a volleyball game. on Sundays i have OGA. then back to Monday again. i hope you guys can understand that if i am not at black belt training or if i look tired that i am really tired from all of my sports.

JOG-A-THON

Today i had a run called the jog-a-thon. the whole point was to run s many laps as you could in 40 minutes. last year i ran 19.5 so this year i determined to get at least 20 laps. I DID GET 20 LAPS!! usually this boy from my class get more than me, but this year we tied!! oh yeah! i forgot to say that the boy and girl from each class who runs the most laps, usually gets a prize. last year and i think this year we just get a certificate. the class from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, got to go to sky high if their class had the highest average. honestly, i think we are going to sky high!!! :) i kept asking every body what number of laps we did and the lowest number someone told me was 12. i think that is pretty good!! i am sooo tired though because it was cold and one of my friend's dad timed how long we were going per lap and he said that for most of the laps we were going 2 minutes per lap. today i also have volleyball practice!!! i am going to be tired for tomorrow.

My school jog a thon

This morning I had my school jog a thon. My goal was to run 12 laps which was three miles. When I ran with my class I ran 14 laps, when I ran with my first grade buddy I ran 5 laps, when I ran with Lorenzo I ran 3 laps, when I ran with Giovanni I ran 2 laps which in total today I ran 24 laps which is 6 miles. I feel like I did much better this year than last year. All the training we have been doing is helping a lot!
~Annmarie :)

LAST WEEK'S GAME

Last week i had my first volleyball game!!!! I was really excited, but at the same time I was nervous(always happens to me in volleyball games). Once we got there, some other teams were playing each other, and after they finished it was my team to play. Our coaches got everything ready. Before we knew it, it was time to play!
The other team had to serve before us so we were in a position called serve/ receive. Well...Let me just tell you that after the first serve... BUMP,SET.HIT.(point) After that, we just kept serving, and serving, and serving. The only way we would lose a point, was by missing our serve, but then the other team missed the first serve so it was our turn again. The first set we won like 25 to like 5. The last set we won 25 to like 7!!! I am really glad to be back to volleyball. last year, we got 5th place, this year we are going to be 1st!!!!!!  :)   :)  :)

docter visit

I know I haven't been on here nearly as much as I should have but it's taken some getting used to blogging. sorry I wasn't there Sunday, I injured my foot couple weeks ago and it was still hurting so I went into the doctor. we took x rays to make sure it was not a fracture. thank goodness it wasn't! but I did end up with a pretty nasty sprain and a torn ligament :(  I wont stop testing but I will have some more challenges to face but I plan to do my best and not give up! will see you al Wednesday.

Proactive Attitude

proactive: serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation

“I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”
“That doesn't have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. ..."  (Full story: http://www.karenstan.net/2013/09/24/each-day-is-a-gift/)

So many times we react to situations and remind ourselves what our attitude should be.  We focus on the 10% / 90% life / reaction portion and often forget that we have a choice to make regarding our attitude that we embrace for the day.  Instead of reacting to events, face life by proactively deciding that nothing is going to get you down.  Then when people act in a certain way or the inevitable happens, you are already prepared for it.  You know that there is nothing you could do to change it and you will already have your one string strung and will be ready to attack the situation head on with your positive attitude.

Getting close

Team,

It's rally time...by that I mean every class/workout should be a mini test....seeing that we flush out all the areas we may not know or what we need to fine tune....

Help each other out!  It really is the only way that you and your teammates can get better!

I have been quite ill for the last five days, so now the Doctor is putting me on medication. I haven't worked out during my stent as a prisoner to my illness, so I am starting to go a little stir crazy, especially with the end of our test coming up. I hate playing catch up. I should be better soon. I guess the bright side is that I may have needed some rest, but I am definitely ready to get back to it.

I have given KJN a few pictures for the graduation slide show. I keep many photos in my binder as I did during my last test. One of them is BSBN Girl Sam, CGN Darius and myself after passing our poom belt test. The last picture is my Dad, my Sister and myself after my high school graduation ceremony, and as to the year, I won't say;) CGN Devon has also been kind enough to supply the instructors with photos of training and testing throughout the year. I love these photos because when I look at them I remember exactly what I was feeling at that moment in time.

I like to keep pictures in my binder because it helps me remember why we do what we do and the motivation to keep fighting. I also like to look at the different generations of people that have come through our school. Take a step back in these next few weeks to reflect on all the things that you have accomplished this year, on and off the mat. Maybe think about what your fondest memories will be or anything that you will do differently in the future. Grow and learn from this year, and feel good about what you have been through. Have faith that you will finish the race.

"Faith literally means 'to give up, surrender, or commit.' Faith is complete confidence." --Billy Graham

Trying to get caught up

Hello everyone,
I woke up at 6:30 am thinking about my binder and all the pages of it that I've been procrastinating on filling in this year -- which led me to the Generations blog, which made me think it's time to write an entry. So here I am ....

Every once in a while, I let the basic, everyday housekeeping tasks in my life pile up to a tipping point. These last six weeks have been that way for me. I've put a lot of my time into keeping up with job responsibilities, and as a result I've slacked off on my blogging and my binder updates. I know this part of our black belt preparation is just as important as our conditioning workouts and our physical curriculum. It's easier to put on the back burner -- which is how I got into this situation.

But no excuses -- I'm going to fill in the gaps and get my binder ready to turn in at the end of this week. It's my priority and my focus. Whoop whoop!!!

- Michael

Today's Saturday Morning Workout

For todays Saturday morning workout we ran about 3 1/2 miles. I was able to run without stopping which is a big improvement with me. I ran it in 30-40 minutes, a personal record. I believe part of the reason I did so well is because I had a great group of people that I ran with to motivate me. I hope everyone else had a great time too.

Race for the cure

  Haven't blogged in a while. So this last week we did the Komen Tace for the Cure. It helps find a cure for breast cancer.
  We got there some time at 7:00 by Tri-Met for my mom's 8k, and we stretched and waited for another hour for our race. We set a good pace at first, and it was good for about a mile, but then my sister's ankle started hurting, so we slowed our pace. We were doing on and off running just about the whole time, but me and Jae walked a block and SPRINTED a block. We often competed to see who could get to the next block first. It was really fun, and I had a great time. It was a lot like the shamrock run. I had a really great time, and I finished really strong.
   I was doing this for a family friend who is battling cancer. I'm really glad I did it because it was a great experience and it's just good to help treatment for breast cancer. I can't wait until my next 5k.


Brandon‼️

Blogger, My Nemesis

OK, so I haven't been blogging as I should.  After all, I am a very talkative person.  People have difficulties getting a word in edgewise while I'm around, everyone knows that about me, so why is blogging so difficult?

I think it has to do with the adrenaline rush of typing.  I get so excited to sit down and communicate more that my mind goes blank and I can't think of anything to write.

Balancing sports

This year I didn't play soccer and that's really been hiting me hard. Don't get me wrong I LOVE martial arts. It's just soccer has been a big part of my life since the second grade! I tried to do both last year but it just didn't work out. That's why I had to stop playing this season. Before this test I had made the classic team as keeper. They wanted me to try out for the fall team but I knew I couldnt balance it all.So I didn't end up trying out. I know how much my black belt means to me. I've been doing this for seven years. I can't give up now. It's been a rough road but hopefully it will have a smoothe ending.
-Annmarie :)

Empathy at school

At school my class has a wheelchair. We use it for empathy training. We each get a half day in the chair and we have to stay in there until our time is up. Today was my turn in the chair and I still played teather ball at recess. It was a little hard but luckliey I have good friends to help. I had fun playing teather ball in the chair even if it was not easy. Being in the chair is not just fun and games. One of the hardest parts for me was going up the slope our school has. Now keep in mind that we are suppose to do as much as we can by ourselves meaning without any help unless we really need it. Being in the chair is both fun and difficult but we did it for empathy. Empathy means understanding the emotions that others might expierencing or in other words stepping into someone else's shoes.

Sick, at home, with a fever

  I'm lying down on the couch, 101degrees F, trying to sleep. My body feels like pudding, my voice is so hourse sometimes I can't even speak above a whisper, and I have an aching head ache everytime I move. Most important is I have to miss school, meaning I will have no idea if anything important happened and having twice as much homework. 

I think I should be sleeping but my brain is telling me to stay awake and do nothing. I feel absolutely useless right now, not doing anything productive for myself. I barely have any energy to go from lying down to sitting up. My little ball of energy named my sister isn't helping me either, as of right now she's pulling at my blanket telling me to play with her an dance with her. And right now I'm not in the mood to play. I feel tired, sick, and hot. 

I wish I had enough strength to just get up, get the knowledge base, walk upstairs in my quiet room. I don't think yesterday was a good idea, but yet I'm still here, lying down on the couch, 101 degrees F, trying to sleep. 

Did you know?: a sneeze travels 100 miles per hour. 

•A sick Serena•

When I walk off the stage on Oct. 25

Hi all,
Sorry to say that I haven't been on the blog in a while -- it's been on my mind, but I've let work and other things crowd this out of my life over the last few weeks.

I've been pondering one of the questions KJN Jeremy asked us to blog about this summer: How do I want to feel at the end of our black belt experience? After we've been through the final judging, the conditioning day, and the meetings?

I want to know that I earned my belt 110 percent and have no doubts about whether or not I was prepared. I want to look back on these past years of preparation and feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I want to reflect on how my commitment to Aim High and this black belt test has changed me -- helped me mature, become stronger, and gain confidence.

These next four weeks are going to go by so fast -- I feel like I still have some big work left to do to really be ready.

-- Michael

"Form a mental picture of the goal you wish to attain and another picture of that goal as being already achieved, and you have put wings under the hard toil of trying."

— Norman Vincent Peale

Open Forms

I wanted to say I enjoyed everyones interpretation of martial arts as it relates to their open forms!

I can't believe that these are the final weeks until the test!

Keep up the good work everyone!

Race for the cure

Today was race for the cure. It was in downtown Portland. The event was for raising breast cancer awareness. At the race for the cure event it was packed and cold. I ran with my dad Brandon and Hailey. I ran the 3 mile option (aka) 5k. This run I think I did pretty good. I did not  feel tired and I did not want to stop,instead I felt energized and fully awake. I had a lot of fun doing another run this time me Taylor, hailey and I had pink tutus. Doing runs throughout the year has helped me become better at stamina and endurance. I hope I can see all of you guys at another run again soon. Running was hard for me at first but now running is a fun activity that I can do with friends.

Missing class Wednesday

Last Wednesday I wasn't at class because my dad felt that it was too hot for me to train. So I trained at home by doing forms, watching kickboxing video tutorials, practicing knowledge base, and balancing on the ball. I hope I didn't miss anything too major at class. I did all the forms. I also practiced my kickboxing combos in the air. I practice my knowledge base and checked my binder for everything. My top time on the ball I have at home is 1:18. I'm hoping to get 1:30 soon.
-Annmarie

The beach workout

The beach workout was a lot of fun! We went to Pacific city beach. The first thing we did was run for 10 min in one direction. Once 10 min passed we got our garbage bags out and started to pick up trash along the beach. Once we got back to base camp we had go in the water and do some forms. Next we had to do sticks we did 6 count redondo and blocks and counters. Then we did some self defense and we were still in the water. It was starting to get cold but we had to toughen up and deal with. Next we had a slight break so me and Andrea were talking about how much fun we were having. After our short break we had to climb this giant sand dune at the beach we picked a partner and we raced our partner to the top of the dune once we made it to the top of the dune I realized that the workout was a blast and that we should do that more often. Sorry I had to repost it the first time it did not post sorry

Run on Sunday

On Sunday I will be doing the annual Race For The Cure which is a 5k,10k timed and non timed run. This run is in downtown Portland. This will be another chance to work on my stamina and endurance. I will be running with Hailey, Brandon and my sister. Also we should all be running regularly outside of aim high and filling out and keeping up to date on our training log. I am so excited to be doing another run and I hope I can do more the future. Even though running is hard for me I love running when I am with other people.  So I am excited to do another run with some friends.  Happy runners!

working out at home

 Sorry I couldn't make it in tonight, tanner got sick at school and we took him to the doctor. sounds like he caught a virus. but since I missed tonight I did a work out of my own. I started off practicing my forms, then I did one hundred pushups, one hundred sit ups, then I did ten minutes of an abb workout  and after that I took my dog on a run. this workout took me about an hour and fifteen minutes.

As our test comes to a close, I have really been reflecting on what we have all accomplished this year. The things that we have done, on and off the mat, are amazing. But now we face one of the most important and crucial parts of the test that really focuses on endurance and if you have been pushing and training all year, you should be looking forward to it and if not, you really need to pull out all of the stops to finish. As another year comes to an end, it really makes me look back on  the concept of time and how we have used it. I hope that you have done everything you want to this year because it is never too late to try something new or make a change. "Once a minute passes it can never be reclaimed." --Billy Graham

Car Seat Recycling

Last Saturday I had a car seat recycling scheduled. It was a big success. We recycled 46 seats. That's about 690 pounds of seats that's not gonna be in the landfill. Everyone who came worked really hard! We were busy the whole time. Thanks for all your help! Since Saturday I have two family's who are still gonna bring me seats. Hope everyone who came had a good time. Thanks again.
-Annmarie :0)

MY WEEK

this week was less tiring than i thought because i didn't go to martial arts on Monday but on Tuesday was  my first day of middle school. unlike Serena i stayed at the same school. my school (St.Matthew Catholic School) goes from pre-k to 8 grade. the only thing i didn't like about middle school was that our lockers are like high school lockers but in half. the 6 grade gets the bottom half an the 8 graders get the top half. our teacher is really nice and lets us sometimes go to get our materials ready  for our next class. on the first day of school i felt so organized because we have a schedule that my homeroom teacher gave our class. almost at every class,never mind at EVERY class we got a syllabus. i was soooo happy though because we have math EVERYDAY!!! and i got into accelerated math class. on Wednesday we had our phase 4 test. on Thursday i got a day off (day off #2, 1st one is Tuesday). on Friday was when i had my first volleyball practice, which is explained in another blog. OH YEAH!! i forgot to mention that i have an awesome Spanish class...we usually have a normal teacher but this year i got ROSETTA STONE!! it is really fun and my teacher said that we have to start out with Spanish and we will take a test at the end of the trimester and if i pass on Spanish i get to learn a different language!!!!!:) i am planning on French, still don't know yet. on Saturday i had my 3 day off which i normally don't have because we have Saturday morning training. today i had gymnastics and it was fun. this week went by really fast. i am excited to see how next week goes.

see you tomorrow!! (hopefully)
~Aneli

This Week

This week was the first week being a 6th grader, phase 4 testing, the first time recycling car seats, and hosting a two hour study group at my house.

Tuesday, Wensday, Thursday, and Friday were the toughest days of my week. I went to a new school knowing no one, waking up really early (which I really don't like,) and carrying around a ten pound bag with me everywhere. And the fact that my school is huge and is also a high school doesn't make anything better. Now don't get me wrong, I love my new school, but having so many classes with homework due in two days is a little too much and overwhelming for me. And having to met totally new people is scary. But I at least made two friends during this week and I have nice teachers. So if you look at the pros instead of the cons, I had a good week. A tiring one, but good. 

Wensday was Phase 4 Testing and I felt as if I let myself and others down because I wasn't at my best. I tried not to be or look tired, but it turns out, I had no real energy left and I am terrible at acting. Phase 4 came so fast to me and I just didn't know how to react. I felt terrible when my mom said in the car she could have done better than me and I wasn't trying my best. But trust me, it isn't going to be like that on testing day. I am going to try my hardest to not be or feel like that ever again. 

Saturday, I was at my happiest when I woke up at 7:00 in the morning instead of 5:00. I felt more refreshed knowing I didn't have to hurry and get dressed and catch my bus, but relax and watch an episode of The Legend of Korra, (Love that show!) then get dressed and go to Aim High to help out with Annmarie's car seat recycling. We strip down the padding of the car seat, took out any metal or styrofoam, and cut out anything that could be cut and thrown away from the expired car seats. We did 45 (I think) expired car seats and put the car seats in the other building. It was fun to be able to cut things and throw away three bags of padding and anything "throwaway-able" into the dumpster. 

At around 2:30-2:55, Jae, Brandon, Taylor, and Kaitlyn arrived at my house for a study group to review the physical stuff like the kickboxing pattern, sticks, etc. and we were going to have some of my mom's cream puffs (which some people have not tasted yet) but the frosting for it wasn't ready so we ended up not having any. :( 

That was pretty much my week. How was yours? 

Did you know: About one-quarter of the bones in your body are in the foot—that's 52 out of more than 200! 

•Serena•

Progress #4

 GOAL: My goal is to have my acts of kindness and environmental acts (minor and major), Leadership project, food journals, black belt events, empathy training, fitness evaluations, and fast defense training logs done and ready to present by October 1st, 2013.

It's been about five days since I've changed my morning routine and started getting up earlier and getting more work done. I've already seen many improvements in my attitude, numbers, and my fitness level. I will continue to log my minor acts of kindness and environmental acts every day. I will continue looking for ways to fill the slots in my major environmental acts. My last major act of kindness will be when I go to the fair for four to five days and help my girlfriend take care of her livestock while she competes in her showing divisions. After I am done writing this entry I will lay out the entire plan for my leadership project and set a date for sometime in the next week. Starting tomorrow I will be starting week 1 of my food journal entries. Empathy training is something that puzzles me a bit. Tomorrow morning I plan on sitting down for about thirty minutes and researching the possibilities for this activity. My last fitness evaluation is going to be in the beginning of October. Since I wont have a time limit that I will have to adhere to I plan on doing sit ups until my muscles wont let me continue. My goal is to break 500. Fast defense is coming up and I will be participating in this event. The test requires two fast defense training sessions. I hope there is a way I can still fulfill that section of my test. One step closer to black belt.

Discipline

Definition: Discipline is a course of actions leading to a greater goal than the satisfaction of the immediate. A disciplined person is one that has established a goal and is willing to achieve that goal at the expense of his or her immediate comfort.

I am a person with very lazy habits. I would rather sit in front of the tv and eat whatever junk food I pleased than actually do any form of work. This is not a reaction to anything. Or at least I don't think it is. I will have to think further on that. But it's a habit I have and it's a non-constructive habit and possibly even self-destructive. I have always heard people in movies and even in life say to certaiin people that they need discipline. I need discipline. I need to stop relaxing all the time and stop relying on being comfortable and do something that makes my body hurt and my mind think and build better habits then the ones I have now. Starting tomorrow I'm waking up at seven every morning instead of sleeping in. I'm setting my alarm now. When I wake up every morning I workout and work on black belt training until noon and then go from there. When I feel the need to relax, I wont. When I feel like playing games, I'll get something done. And when I feel like taking a nap in the afternoon, I go for a run. Since I reduced my hours at Aim High I have a lot of free time to do as I please. I've wasted enough time already. Time to get to work.

VOLLEYBALL

Today I had my first practice in volleyball and man does it feel good to be back!! J I normally have practices on Wednesday and Friday, but since I have Black Belt training and it is almost over I figured to focus on Black belt training then focus on volleyball. My dad also put me in a volleyball group that is on Wednesdays and is going to be only for 5 weeks. That group starts before black belt training so it will take me a week or two to get used to doing two sports in a day. L I thought that since I haven’t practiced in a long time, I wouldn’t do so well. But I actually feel pretty confident about my first practice. Last year for club volleyball I was setter the whole season and I never got to hit the ball unless I got a set to the back and was nice, but whenever I tried to hit it my coach would say to pass from back row. My coach from last year said she would talk to my coach now to see if I could hit this year but today I was setter again and I ask if I could hit and she said “maybe later in the season when we find another setter.” I guess I can think of hitting the ball with the serve for now because I get to jump serve later. JJJ Hopefully I won’t be so sore because my weekly schedule for now is: Monday-Martial Arts, Tuesday-rest day #1, Wednesday-volleyball then martial arts, Thursday-Rest day #2, Friday-volleyball, Saturday-Saturday training , Sunday-Gymnastics. Then the cycle over again!LLL  I am kind of happy that we don’t have Saturday training tomorrow because I got three days of rest!!!! JJJ

~Aneli