Candidate Journals

I had a really eventful day today. I woke up early and did my requirements before class started. Black belt class this morning was good, it seemed like we were able to cover a lot of material. After class, me and my family celebrated my birthday at the white water center. Even though my birthday was in February, I decided to wait to have a celebration until the weather was warm enough to go to the white water center. Rafting was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the day but by 4:00 I was exhausted and ready to relax for the rest of the evening. We came home and that's exactly what I did, chilled out for the rest of the night. Overall, great day.

Today was a pretty good day at school, busy, but at the end of the day I didn't have any homework which is always nice. I came home and got my requirements done before class this evening. Class was good, we went over the takeaways all the way through 15. after class I was able to get a mentor session which was also helpful because we went over some things about poomsae. I am about go on a run in order to hit the goal of 10 miles for the week. I hope everyone had a good week as we enter into another one tomorrow.

Today was a pretty descent day at school besides how busy today was. After school, I had a mentee session and by the time we were done, I was exhausted. I struggled to get through my requirements this evening because keeping up with school and requirements has been kind of strenuous. I'm planning to go to bed early tonight so hopefully I can feel great tomorrow.

I had such a busy day today. School was descent today but after school was our first drumline meet of the year. It was fun getting back together and practicing what we remembered from last year. After drumline, I came home and had a lot of homework to do. I used my requirements as brain breaks throughout my couple hours of assignments. This evening I went on a run and everything was feeling really good. I got a good time which is relieving since I haven't truly pushed myself on a run since a week before the testing in Greenville. I hope everyone else is having a great week so far!!

Today at school, my schedule got switched up a bit because apparently my English class was too small. The school had to dissolve the class and because of this they made some adjustments to my classes. I'm not to fond of this but it is what it is. These past couple nights I have not been getting great sleep so when I came home from school it was a struggle to knock out my requirements. It took some time but eventually I prevailed and ended up going on a run tonight. Hopefully I can get some better rest tonight for a better day tomorrow.

I didn't get great sleep last night so I was a bit more tired than usual for school this morning. All of my classes really picked up today and it is starting to feel like typical school again. After school, I cam home and did some of my requirements. I forgot how much time school takes up so I need to make a routine in order to account for the daily requirements. Later, I went to King Tiger and worked on hapkido. Master Marcus and I started to go over hapkido number 6 and 7. That was completely new to me but I'm sure with enough practice, everything will be all good. After that, I came home and finished up the rest of my requirements and I am now about to go to bed.

On the way back from Greenville yesterday, my family and I stopped about half way because some of our extended family lived in the Durham area. We visited and spent the night with them and then in the morning we hit the road back home. I was pretty exhausted from what went on yesterday but I managed to get my requirements over with, especially with the increase in minutes. I went shopping for school materials that were needed in some classes and when I got home from that I was ready to relax for the evening and try to get some good rest before school tomorrow.

Today was the Masters Exam. Me and my family made the trip last night and spent the night at a hotel, so I woke up well rested and ready to test. I was a bit stressed out before testing started, but as soon as we all got on the mat and started doing tae kwon do, all the nerves eased. I thought everyone did phenomenal throughout the entirety of the kicks, forms, creative forms, and breaking. I am super grateful that I was able to share this experience with everyone who watched and participated. It’s amazing how everybody came together, supported each other, and gave it their all. I am thankful for everyone who has been in my life to get me to the spot where I was today. At the end of the day, everyone had a successful Masters Exam, and personally, I had a great time being a part...

I just got to Greenville for the Masters testing tomorrow, I’m pretty tired but I’m glad that I am here. I hope all goes well tomorrow!

Today was my first day of school!! It was good to see everyone again and I am feeling pretty happy about my schedule. When I got home from school, I worked really hard on my requirements and since I doubled up yesterday and today, I am able to skip my requirements on Friday and Saturday in order to focus all of my attention on testing. This evening I went to sparring class which was good and afterwards I was working on my creative form just locking everything in. I'm a little anxious but I am also confident in my ability to put on a good performance. Tomorrow is going to be a long day because after class I am going straight to Greenville. Peace out.

I woke up and spent most of my day on requirements and training for Saturday. Later I went to King Tiger and I was able to practice my creative form inside for the first time and it was a total upgrade from being outside. I was able to see my staff a lot better and there was air conditioning too. Tomorrow is my first day of school; I really wish Summer was longer but all good things must come to an end. Tonight  I went on a run / walk. I didn't try to break any records because I want to preserve my legs as much as possible for the Master's exam.  I hope all goes well tomorrow, good luck to everyone else who's first day of school is tomorrow as well.

I woke up and did my physical requirements like normal. I then practiced everything that was on the list for the testing on Saturday. I took a break for a little bit and then practiced a lot more. I was able to get a mentee session in today as well. Basically my full day was training for the Saturday testing. I guess you could say that I am a little anxious about the testing but I feel that all will be fine. Tomorrow I plan to do the same as today to try and get in as much preparation before Saturday.

I woke up pretty early and was able to get my physical requirements knocked out. We got the testing schedule for the master's testing on Saturday so for the next couple of days, that is what I will be practicing very intensely. It has been six months since I got my driver's license so I was able to order my fully unrestricted license. It should come in within a week. Speaking of driving, this will be the first schoolyear in which I drive myself to and from school. That's going to be a little strange at first but I'm sure I will get used to it. I hope everyone's week is going good as we continue through week 4.

I was super tired this morning which added some extra difficulty to my requirements but I was still able to knock them out at a relatively early time of the day. My body was feeling a lot better today when practicing kicks and poomsae, I don't know why my hips were hurting so bad yesterday. I played chess for a while in the afternoon which was pretty fun. This evening was not too eventful, I just relaxed and rested so I will be prepared to really practice my creative form tomorrow.

I woke up before class this morning and was able to complete my daily requirements before class. When I went to class, my hips really started to hurt. other than that, class was pretty good. My hips continued to hurt after class but they soothed down as the day went on. I practiced my creative form and I feel ready to perform it, I am feeling super good on the way it turned out. I plan to go on a run later this evening but I don't want to push it too hard so my hips don't become inflamed again. After my run, I plan to let my body recover for the rest of the evening.

I woke up and finished my summer reading book today. I'm surprised with how fast I finished, I think I only started the book about 5 days ago. Soon after, I did my requirements for the day. Later I went to King tiger for black belt class and then after class I was able to get a mentor session. I can't wait for the fall because the mosquitos have been insane this summer. Every time I go outside to practice my creative form, I feel like I am being eaten alive. Anyway, my evening was not to eventful, I just relaxed for the rest of the night after class.

Today was pretty good, I slept in and when I woke up I did my requirements like usual. I practiced my creative form some, just trying to get everything to muscle memory. Later in the day, I went to sparring class which was good. After class I had a mentee session. When I came home, my legs became very sore, not just the muscles but my shin bones. The rest of the night, I tried to stay off of my feet as much as possible in order to rest and promote recovery.

I woke up today and went on a run. I think I still prefer to run at night because the whole day after my run I felt a bit more tired than usual. After I was all settled from my run, I completed the rest of the daily requirements. I played chess for a while in the afternoon; I haven't played chess in a minute and it was fun playing a few games today. This evening I worked on my creative form and some of the skills that go along with it. My legs are pretty sore so I am looking forward to a good nights rest.

This morning I worked really hard on some skills that will be in my creative form. Still super happy with the progress I am seeing. It is crazy that the schoolyear for some of us is less than 10 days away, I am so not looking forward to going back to school, summer always feels like it goes by too fast. Later in the day, I went over to King Tiger and while I was there I secured leadership credits and a mentee session. That wraps up my day.

I followed through with my normal routine today except with a little twist. The daily requirements have become monotonous so in order to try and cure this, I did each exercise in a different room of my house. It was kind of nice having a change in scenery while exercising. Later I practiced my creative form and I am pretty happy with the progress that I am making. Hope I can continue this progress for the rest of the week.

I am not a fan of all this rain because it makes it difficult to train outside. I like to practice my creative form outside so I have more space but with the ground muddy, it's near impossible. I started my summer reading book for school today; I figured I would wait until later in the summer to read it so it would be fresh on my mind going into the schoolyear. Tonight I went for a "run" but only about 1.5 miles in, I could tell I ate to big of a dinner. I ended up having to walk the rest of the miles. Hopefully next time I run it will be more successful. That's all for today, I hope everyone is doing great!

I woke up this morning with enough time to complete the majority of my daily requirements before class. This morning's class was good because we went over some very important things to help us be successful. After class, I worked on my creative form; mostly just some skills in the form that I still need work on. The rest of the day I was exhausted, yesterday and today I felt like this so hopefully another good nights rest does the trick.

With it being the last day of July, it made me realize how close the school year is getting. Not particularly looking forward to school. Anyway, my new staff is one of those staffs that can be twisted apart into smaller pieces to easily transport but when I practice my creative form it always ends up twisting apart. To prevent this, I wrapped some electrical tape around the middle; haven't tried it out yet but I will know how it works out tomorrow. I went to class later in the day and all was good there. For some reason, I am super exhausted so I am going to bed early tonight to hopefully get some quality rest.

Today was quite eventful. I did my physical requirements in the morning like usual and then practiced my creative form. My dad had to get his car inspected so I had to pick him up from the mechanic, otherwise he wouldn't have a ride home. Later in the day I went over to King tiger for sparring class. sparring class was pretty good and I was able to get a mentor and mentee session as well. I'm feeling pretty tired so the rest of the night will be for relaxing and sleeping.

Today was pretty good. When I woke up, I knocked out all of my physical requirements. I worked a lot on my creative form. Currently I am trying to do it as much as possible so it can become muscle memory. Tonight, I went on a run but instead of running in my neighborhood, I went to a track. I mainly went to the track because it is completely flat but also so I could pace myself after each lap. My first two miles were really good, I was making good time. However from mile 2 - 3 was when it started to get very difficult. I could feel my body wanting to drop from the pace I was at. That third mile felt like 2 miles. once I completed mile 3, I only had one more mile to go. I was so tired after this, my body wanted to stop....

When I woke up, instead of doing my physical requirements, I jumped right into poomsae, self defense, and creative form practice. Typically, I practice my creative form over concrete in my backyard because it is the most open and flat area that is easily accessible. Today when I was twirling my staff like usual, one end struck the ground and completely snapped off. I was shocked; I didn't even know that was a risk. Anyway, later in the day, I went by king tiger in order to get a new staff and since I was there, I was able to get a leadership credit as well. When I came home, I finished up the rest of my physical requirements. That wraps up my day.

Today was similar to most other days of the cycle so far. I woke up and did my requirements. I practiced self defense and forms right after the physical exercises. I think I have finally put all the pieces together of my creative form. I don't think I am going to edit it any more unless a part is just not fitting in. Other than that, I really just had a lowkey day with not a lot going on. I hope everyone is doing good and is keeping up with everything.

Last night, I had a great run. I set my personal record for 4 miles. I am super exited because each time I have ran on this cycle so far, it has been improvement every time. I really hope I can keep up the pattern as the cycle progresses. When I woke up today, my legs were a bit sore as to be expected. I have noticed that my appetite has really increased within these last couple of days. Its kind of a nuisance because I find myself more hungry throughout the day. Anyway I practiced my creative form some more. I am almost done constructing all of the steps which is helpful because now I can just practice without having to think about what should come next. I hope everyone is doing great!

I'm feeling pretty good about week 2 of the cycle. It feels like we just started and we are already on week 2. I went to black belt class this morning and we worked a lot on weapons. When I came home, I started chipping away at the daily requirements. For the rest of the day I just relaxed at home. Right After I'm done writing this, I was planning on running. Hopefully I can improve my time from last run!

For some reason, I slept in really late today. When I finally got out of bed at 10:00, I did some of my requirements. Halfway through, I took a break and worked on my creative form. Soon after, I got back to the daily requirements. Later in the day, I went over to the weekday back belt class. After class, I was able to get a mentor session. I was really able to focus on bolo and anyo isa. I really need to start working more on my weapon forms because I tend to exclude those in my daily practice. After class, I came home and relaxed for the rest of the night. It's just me at the house tonight because both of my parents are in South Carolina visiting family but I had to stay back home because I couldn't afford to miss tomorrow morning's class. Can't wait for week...

Today felt pretty productive. When I woke up, I did my requirements like usual. I worked on my creative form some more. That is something I am going to work into my daily routine because the more practice the better. Later in the day, I went to King Tiger for a mentee session, sparring class, and a mentor session. sparring class went smoothly and so did my sessions. When I got home, I relaxed and worked on my creative form some more.

Today was pretty good. When I woke up, my back felt like a pretzel with how stiff and twisted it felt. I'm assuming that's probably a combination from my run last night alongside sleeping in a weird position. I tried to stretch it out to the best of my ability; after that I hit the floor for the daily requirements. Later in the day, I went to King Tiger for leadership credits and a mentee session. Both of which were successful. Tomorrow is going to be my first sparring class in a while so I hope all goes well.

Today I woke up early enough to get all of my requirements completed by 10:00. after my required daily requirements, I worked on my creative form. I am starting to really like the progress I am making, especially because I need to have something put together by August 15th. Once I was done training, I did some chores around the house. For the most part I had a pretty lowkey day. Until night rolled around. Usually I do my runs on Sundays and Wednesdays but tonight I felt good enough to go ahead and knock out tomorrow morning's run. Typically I run 4 miles at time which is how much I will be required to do on the physical test. First of all, I think it may become the norm to do my runs before the sun rises or after the sun sets. It was really nice not having the sun...

When I woke up today, I found myself still a little sore from the previous two days. Hopefully that wears off soon. I went for a run today which I don't plan on running every single day; only a couple times a week. I found that I lost a lot of conditioning from my cycle in January - March. I hope that I can quickly gain that back in order to improve my times. Since its summer, school is not a thing that I have to worry about which is really helpful because that means I can dedicate more time to training. I hope I am not too sore from my run this morning so I can persist with the upcoming requirements with passion.

I'm super excited to be participating in this black belt cycle! These 12 weeks are going to absolutely fly by. After this cycle, I will be testing for my 4th degree black belt which will award the title of "master". I didn't have to do the physical part of the pretest today because I had already completed that in January. However I did wake up relatively early in order to complete the normal, soon to be daily, physical requirements before the poomsae / self defense portion of the pretest. I am anticipating more training for myself on this cycle rather than any other cycle because the master's exam is on August 15th. I can't wait to sharpen my Tae kwon do skills, tackle a great challenge, and improve myself overall as a person through these next 12 weeks!!!

Good luck to all who are testing tomorrow. I do not really have any additional advice to give because a lot was covered from Instructor Jen and Instructor Peyton's previous journals. One thing I will say is that during testing, worry about yourself before you help others. As long as you are doing what you need to do, everything should work out. Of course help out your piers during breaks. Having resilience is another big thing. Being able to bounce back from mistakes is key. Also, prepare to perform your best Tae Kwon Do; everything you do must be performed at 100 percent effort. Lastly, don't overthink, you have been training for 3 months for this, that will reflect your performance. Always keep this in mind, "A black belt is a white belt who never gave up."  I hope everyone does well tomorrow.

Today was pretty good. I woke up and went to school. Just an average day. When I came home, I got right into my requirements. I managed to complete everything. I have no more requirements left to do. That feels amazing, almost as if a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders. It is going to feel so weird tomorrow coming home from school and not having to do anything. I don't know yet what I'm going to do with the extra free time. I hope everyone else is ready for testing and also coming close to finishing the requirements. When you look back on these twelve weeks, everything has flown by so fast. That just goes to show how far we have come. I hope everyone does well and continues to push through this week.

Today was good. School has been very intense today and yesterday, I know tomorrow and Thursday should be relaxed. Then there is Friday; I got a lot stacked up for Friday. When I got home, I worked on the requirements that still needed to be done. All should be complete by tomorrow. I did not really have an eventful evening. It feels really good when the requirements start dwindling. I can't wait for tomorrow when I am tracking these last few workouts.

I had quite a busy day today. I woke up and went to school, not bad for a Monday. When I got home, I did a lot of requirements, a lot more than what I was used to doing. I should be on track to finish everything up by Wednesday. I hope everyone is coming close to meeting their goals and also preparing for testing. This week is not the week to slack off, If anything it should be one of the more intense weeks of the cycle. Later in the evening, I studied a good bit  for tomorrow. I feel like at school, there are relaxed weeks and then every so often their are clusters of tests and quizzes among the different classes. Hopefully since we are approaching spring break, the teachers will have pity, or maybe they will throw in a lot of material right before break. No way to...

It is crazy that it's already Sunday night, the weekends always fly by so fast. This weekend, I was doing the digital detox challenge, that was a pretty cool challenge. When the morning started, I did a lot of yard work, mulching, planting, and mowing. The heat really kicked in this weekend, it feels strange for the outside to be 80 degrees in march. Later in the day, I did some requirements, some extra so I could be done sooner in the week. It is going to feel so weird when there are no requirements left to do, almost like something is missing. That's what it felt like when my nutrition challenge ended. Anyway, I spent my evening studying and doing schoolwork, hopefully all goes well tomorrow. 

I had a pretty good day. My body woke me up at 5:50 AM as expected. I got as many requirements in as I could before class. Class was also pretty good. At the end of class we got a brick breaking lesson. When it was my turn, I broke the practice boards; I'm going to be honest, my wrist is sore from that. When I came home, I got ready to go look at cars. Since I got my drivers license recently, me and my family have been looking for a good first car. We went to a couple of dealerships to check out what they had. One of the dealerships we went to was hosting a car show which was pretty cool to walk around and see all the exotic cars. After that, I came home and finished the rest of my requirements for the day. Overall, pretty good day.

I am glad today is Friday. School was average, nothing crazy happening. However, I have not escaped school completely for the weekend, I have some tests on Monday. After school, I tried to squeeze in some requirements before class. Class was good; got some good self defense work in. After class, I finished up the requirements I did not get around to. For some reason, every day this week, I have been waking up about 5-10 minutes before my alarm. I'm curious to see if I wake up at the same time tomorrow knowing that I don't have school the next day. Looking forward to class tomorrow.  

Today was pretty good. School was just fine. My chemistry class was pretty cool today, we did some labs that explored the gas laws. After school, we had the first drumline practice in 2026. It was a lot of fun getting back together and shaking off the rust. It really stinks that my school has completely dissolved the band program. I really have enjoyed that class for the past 4 years but this year and the years coming, the school has decided to discontinue the band program. Luckily they are still keeping drumline which is a student led club, led by me. After school, I jumped into the requirements like usual. Once I finished up, I played chess for a while. That raps up my day.

Today was pretty good. School was pretty normal. When I got home, I got to the requirements. I ran my final 4 miles today, super exited about that; my legs have been struggling for these past couple of runs. Later in the evening I studied pretty hard for school. I learned something pretty interesting today. Since I will be needing to get a fruit tree, I was thinking of the possible trees that could survive in the conditions we have in North Carolina. I was going through the trees in my head and I stumbled across the banana tree. Technically a banana grows on a herbaceous plant, not a tree. Because of this, a banana is considered a berry under the fruit category . I guess that means no banana . . . plant?

Today was alright, school was normal, nothing out of the ordinary. When I got home, I did my requirements. I plan to complete all of my miles by tomorrow. That will be great. It feels like my hips and shins have not been enjoying all this running; maybe I need to fix my form. Anyway, later in the evening, I did some homework. The rest of my evening was typical. I am super exited that drumline should be starting back up soon. The weather has finally warmed up enough for that to be an activity after school.

Today school was pretty busy. I heard some schools were canceled due to the weather, this made traffic a lot lighter in the morning and the afternoon. When I got home from school, I started the requirements. I am seeing a lot of improvement which is always very rewarding. It is so crazy how in North Carolina, one day will be almost 80 degrees and then two days later, it will be close to 30 degrees. I am not looking forward to the heat, I like the cold. Anyway, for the rest of my evening, I just relaxed and played chess for a while.

Today was a pretty good day. When I woke up, I began to think about how we started training in the very beginning of January. We all have come such a long way and now we only have what feels like a few more days ahead of us. It really feels like time has been flying past for me. Anyway, I jumped into my requirements early so that I had the rest of the day to do other things. I had some homework that needed to be done but other than that I did not have anything else on my agenda. The end is in sight; I hope that everyone can finish strong for the time remaining.

Today was pretty good, I woke up to go to class in the morning, class was pretty good as well. After class, I went to the community service activity. My job was to hold the bag under the funnel while the food was being dropped into the bag. I think we had 6912 meals packed which is insane; in such little time we got so many meals packed. After the meal packing, I came home and knocked out the requirements. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, I played chess for a while and just enjoyed the rest of my day.

Today was alright at school, pretty busy since it was the end of the week. I went to class after school, class was pretty good, I feel like I have made  some pretty good progress on my 540 kick. I'm looking forward to the community service activity tomorrow. I think just by coincidence, I will be able to complete my 40 total service hours for school from our activity tomorrow. The rest of my evening was pretty good, just relaxed.

Today at school was no different than the rest. After school, I went to King Tiger for a leadership credit. When I came home I did my requirements. After that I had to study pretty hard because I have a chemistry test tomorrow. After I was feeling confident in the subject, I submitted everything for my Dica Poem. It took me 4 days of going back to the same spot to finally get a picture where the light was right, the clouds were right, and every other component. Overall, good day. 

Today, school was more of the same, nothing to eventful. I'm feeling quite better when compared to yesterday. When I got home I started with my requirements. Its kind of interesting that I find it easier to do the requirements on a weekday rather than a weekend. I assume its because I developed a constant routine and I have not really differed from that routine since the beginning of the cycle. I planned to run today; I did; sorta. I only managed to squeeze out 2 miles even though I planned to run 4. when I was only in the first half mile, I got 2 side stiches on either side of my torso. That was a struggle, also when I was approaching the end of the second mile, I started to feel queasy. I took a five minute break so my stomach could settle, then I tried to start running again. It...

Today I woke up and did not feel that great. I want to say its just allergies and nothing more, however I do not know if that's the case. School was juts the average school day. When I came home, I took my time going through my requirements. Hopefully I am feeling better tomorrow so I can run. I got assigned a project in my engineering class to make bridge out of basal wood. Everyone makes a bridge (only 8 inches by 2 inches) and the person with the best weight to force carried ratio wins. This will be a fun project that I am looking forward to. Hopefully the odds will ever be in my favor.

Since last week was the end of the third quarter at school, my school gave us a long weekend. And because I did not have school today, I went to the FeedNC food bank in Mooresville. I helped out in the warehouse for a couple hours sorting foods and categorizing them by dates. When I got home, I mowed the lawn; it is becoming that season where mowing the grass will become a weekly chore. Unfortunately that also means that it will soon become the time of year where allergies will start acting up. Later in the day, I knocked out all of my requirements. Hopefully my teachers will take it easy tomorrow to kick off the fourth quarter.

Today was pretty good. I woke up and went to class. This class was filled with weapons. That's all we did, weapons for the whole class. When I got home, I did all my requirements for the day. After that I went to the grocery store with my parents, good thing Costco exists. The rest of my day was pretty relaxed. I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend because I do not have school on Monday. Since I won't have school, I plan to go to the food bank and help out. At my school, we are required to have done 40 service hours a year and I am just about finished. Help at the food bank and the community service hosted by King Tiger will give me the last few hours I need to reach 40 hours. That's all for today, I hope everyone had a good Saturday.

These last three days, I have been so busy. This week at school was the end of the quarter, this means tests were everywhere and teachers were trying to cram lessons in to meet deadlines. Good thing I got ahead on my requirements so I could focus on school for the rest of the week. Today at class we had this cool self defense drill, I feel like it prioritized our muscle memory to have to turn around and remember which foot is supposed to be in front and then perform the self defense. After class, I went on a run, and by this time I was exhausted from everything that had been going on during the week. I was thinking to myself, "this week has really been testing my limits."  And that got me thinking, your . . . "limits" is just a metaphor used to describe what you have...

Today was quite a lowkey day. I did not have school today because juniors and seniors have ACT testing. Although no school was in session, I spent a lot of time studying because the end of the quarter is Friday and I have a quarter final for my math class and my AP Environmental Science class. preparing for those tests are going to take a lot of time out of my evenings this week. Knowing all of this I spent some extra time doing requirements to try and get ahead so I would not have to worry about requirements as much as I normally would. I hope everything goes according to my plan. - Lucas

Instructors camp yesterday was blast! I had a great time learning from everybody. I think the highlight of the day was doing TKD aerobics with Master Chelley. That was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. It was so interesting listening to Grandmaster Lee talk about how the things we practice in forms can be used in a practical situation. All and all, yesterday was fantastic and I look forward to participating in Instructors Camp again next year.

Today was alright. I got a little homework for school over the weekend, none that can't be managed. After school I came home and got to my requirements. I went to class later in the evening. class was pretty good, we went over weapons a lot. When I came home, I packed everything I needed for Instructors camp tomorrow. I am going to bed very early because we have to be at King Tiger by 4:00 AM to be in Greeneville by 8:30. I'm looking forward to what will be going on tomorrow, this years schedule seems pretty fun.

I had quite a busy day today. School was normal, nothing to eventful. When I got home, I doubled up on my requirements in order to get ahead to make up for what I will miss for Instructors camp. After an overwhelming amount of requirements, I went to King Tiger for sparring class. We got to do this new drill were two people on either side of you hold targets and your goal was to kick them while maneuvering yourself down the mat. After sparring class, I came home and hit the books; I got a math test tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the last day of my nutrition challenge. My nutrition challenge was to eat 100 percent natural foods which has been really difficult. especially because everything that I am aloud to eat has to be made and prepared. - Lucas

Today was ok at school. Just a regular day. After school, I went to King Tiger for leadership credits and a mentee session. When I came home, I started my requirements and I also went for a run. My neighborhood has many hills in it and by the fourth mile, running up those hills are quite difficult. However it was very nice weather to be running so that was really nice. After my requirements, I did some homework. I am looking forward to Saturday because one, it is instructors camp and two, Friday is the last day of my nutrition challenge. I think I am finally going to get a birthday cake because my birthday happened while I was on my nutrition challenge and was not able to eat cake over my birthday. This wraps up my day. I hope everyone had a great Wednesday and has a great rest of...

Today I had a pretty big chemistry test today, it was very difficult. I hope a pleasant score comes back when my teacher releases the grades. When I got home, I started doing my requirements. I got those knocked out relatively early in the evening. I played chess for a while a bit later in the evening. That wraps up my day - Lucas

Today was ok for Monday. I was quite busy at school today, luckily this made the day go by faster. After school, I went to King Tiger for leadership credits, lots of new belts from color belt testing last week. When I got home, I did my requirements as quickly as I could because I had a lot of schoolwork to do. I studied for a long time in chemistry, I have a big chemistry test tomorrow. I had some other small assignments for other classes that had to be done as well. Today went by very fast for me.

Today I had quite an eventful day. My mom decided that she wanted to go skiing today. Personally, I prefer snowboarding over skiing. Since we both typically wake up early, we had plenty of time to get ourselves ready and hit the road. We went to the Appalachian Ski Resort near Boone, it was about an hour in a half long drive. We arrived shortly after it opened and skied / snowboarded the slopes until late afternoon. While we were there, the resort had a real competition on slalom and freestyle skiing / snowboarding. It was really impressive to see how fast and high some of those athletes could jump into the air. since it was getting pretty late, we headed back home. We got home pretty late in the evening which meant I only had a little bit of time to do my requirements. I managed to do all that...

Today I woke up and went to class. we worked a lot on staff forms and black belt forms. After class, I came home and knocked out some homework. I had a pretty big AP Environmental Science project that I was able to complete along with some other regular assignments from other classes. After that, I started doing my requirements. After my requirements, I ate dinner and had a peaceful evening to relax. - Lucas

Today at school was pretty smooth sailing. I guess the teachers were looking forward to the weekend as well. After school, I went to King Tiger for a mentee session. We worked a lot on self defense. I came home shortly after and started doing requirements. Then I went back to King Tiger for class and a mentor session. We worked a lot on belt self defense, especially number 5. After class, I came home and got to the requirements I could not get to earlier. I got some homework to do over the weekend, that's my plan for tomorrow. - Lucas

Today I woke up and went to school. Was not looking forward to it because I knew I had two major tests back to back in my first two classes. My 4 hours of studying last night paid off because I got a 97% on my history test. I am still waiting to hear back from math. The rest of the school day was smooth sailing. After school, I came home and started doing my requirements. Since there was no sparring class this week due to colored belt testing, that left me with a couple of hours to relax. Remember, strength does not come from winning against your struggles. Strength comes from facing your struggles and deciding not to give up. - Lucas

Today was completely packed. I woke up at 4:30 to go running before school. I usually run 4 miles before school on Wednesday. When I was right around the two mile point, I had to stop running because for some reason suddenly felt very nauseous. I do not know why this happened, but my body did not agree with something I ate because I completely lost my breakfast into the toilet. I didn't really feel sick after that incident so I got back outside and ran another 2 miles to complete my run. After that, I went to school. Nothing nothing crazy happened at school, just school. When I came home, I started and finished my requirements. Then the rest of my evening was spent studying for a math and history test tomorrow. I spent about 4 hours studying, I am now thoroughly exhausted. - Lucas

Today was a regular day at school. Taking a study hall this year is really paying off because I usually complete homework in my study hall and not my evening which is used for physical requirements. When I came home from school, I jumped into the daily requirements. Soon after, I worked really hard on my creative form again. I ended up practicing in my backyard because there is a lot more space to try things out. I am planning to go to bed early tonight so I can wake up energized for my run tomorrow morning before school. - Lucas  

Today I woke up and actually had to go to school today. I feel like every school in the area except for my school had the day off because of Presidents Day. School was pretty lowkey because three of my teachers were not here today. After school, I went to King Tiger for leadership credits. When I came home from King Tiger, I started and finished my requirements. I really started to craft my creative form this evening in my spare time. The rest of the evening had nothing else going on.

Today I slept in until 9:00. (I call that sleeping in). When I woke up, I started running. I managed to set my record for running 4 miles. I am less than two minutes away from my goal. When I finished up my run, I started with my other requirements. When I finished with my requirements, my dad told me that I was replacing our faucet today. So I was crawling all under the sink and doing all kinds of stuff to replace it. Some of the pipes and tubes started to drip so it was almost like a second shower. After all was done, we had a fully functional faucet. Since it was my mom's birthday today, we went out to dinner at Fin & Fino in Birkdale Village. The food there was quite good. My parents got deserts like cheesecake and carrot cake but unfortunately I could not because...

Happy Valentines day to everyone! Today I woke up to go to class in the morning. During class, I learned all of double stick form 2. That form has some crazy turns that feel really unnatural. I will definitely be working on double stick form 2 a lot. After class I came home and did all of my requirements. After my requirements, I  played chess for a while. The rest of the day, I did not have anything else to do. I stretched and relaxed for the remaining time. - Lucas

Today at school we had a pep rally. I think it was to celebrate the winter sports for the school but other than that I have no idea why there was a pep rally. After school, I came home and did as many requirements as I could before going to King Tiger for black belt class. Class was pretty good because we worked on double stick form one and two which was much needed. Then after class I worked on hapkido forms and the takeaways. After class, I came home and finished up my requirements that I did not get to before class. - Lucas

Today I had a normal day at school. This week it seems that nothing has been interesting at all at school. After school, I went to King Tiger to do some leadership credits and a mentor session. I went home so I could complete some requirements and eat dinner. Then I went back to King Tiger for a mentee session and sparring class. My MCL is really giving me trouble so I had to wear a knee brace for sparring class. Not to comfortable, especially because my brace is ancient. After sparring, I came home and finished up the requirements I did not do before class. - Lucas 

Today I had a regular day at school. It was pretty bland, not a lot was going on. After school, I went to King Tiger for leadership credits. I stayed their for a couple of classes and then it was time to head home. When I got home, I started doing my requirements. Since I did not get the chance  to run in the morning before school, I took an evening run. Running in the evening definitely has a vibe, however I still prefer to run in the morning. Just remember, people quit when the journey gets hard; not impossible. Stay strong. - Lucas  

Today I woke up and went to school and had a regular school day. After school, I went to King Tiger for some leadership credits. When I came home, I went ahead to complete my requirements. After I was done, me and my family picked up food from Jason's Deli. The food was pretty good. It was starting to get late in the evening and I once again had two tests that I needed to study for. Math and English. I took a couple of hours to study and that was my day. - Lucas.

Today was my birthday, and what makes today even better is that I did not have school today. Isn't that a coincidence. That's a pretty awesome birthday gift if you ask me. When I first woke up, I immediately knocked out my requirements because I knew I had kind of a big day planned. Since I turned 16 years old today, I spent a couple of hours at the DMV taking a road test to get my drivers license. I did indeed pass which is super exiting! It is going to feel really strange being able to operate a car by myself. Especially when going to and from class, not having to be dropped off or picked up. When I came home, I did not have much to do however when the evening came around, I really had to study for school tomorrow. I have and English and AP Environmental Science test tomorrow. I had a really...

Today I woke up and went on a run. I was planning to run 4 miles like I usually do but when I was at the two mile mark, I had to stop and warm up inside my house. I did not expect it to be that cold outside, I assumed that when my blood started flowing, I would warm up. That was not the case. Anyway, I finished up the other two miles when I felt ready. After my run, I went ahead to knock out the rest of my requirements. The remainder of my day was reserved for relaxation. I did not have any obligations that I had to do. - Lucas

Today I woke up and went to class. We worked a lot on our belt level specials. Overall class was pretty good this morning. My birthday is only two days out and because of that, Master Chelley had planned a little birthday celebration in which everyone sung happy birthday and wacked me with pool noodles. Mater Chelley also gave me a small container of candy with a bow on top as a birthday gift. THANK YOU MASTER CHELLEY!!!! When I arrived home from class, I knocked out my requirements. I went to the grocery store with my parents a bit later in the day as well. The rest of my day was pretty relaxed, I did not have anything else going on. - Lucas  

Today I woke a up to a regular school day. no two hour delay or anything crazy. I got a little bit of homework but that was easily taken care of when I got home. I swiftly completed my requirements after school. A little later into the evening, I went to King Tiger for class. Class was pretty good but what was even better was I got to start to learn double stick form 2 after class. That seems like a complicated form. After class, I came home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. - Lucas.

Today I woke up at 6:00 like an ordinary school day. I started to get ready and then right around 6:15, the school calls and says their will be a two hour delay. Instead of crawling back in bed, I took advantage of the extra time and completed my requirements. It felt really good knowing that when I came home I would not have to do any kind of working out. After school, I went to King Tiger to get some leadership credits. I came home to eat and then went right back over to King Tiger for sparring class. After class, I came home and finished up the requirements that I did not have time for in the morning. - Lucas.

Today the school systems were on a two hour delay. Tomorrow, school for me will be the same as any regular day. I'm thankful that there was a 2 hour delay today because instead of waking up at 4:30 AM like I usually do on Wednesday to go for a run, I got to sleep in until 6:30 AM. School was per usual today, nothing crazy happened. I went to King Tiger for some leadership credits as well. After that I came home and did my requirements. The rest of my evening will be spent studying for my chemistry test on mole conversions and stoichiometry of empirical and molecular formulas. - Lucas

Today was a remote school day. I feel like my teachers assign a lot more things to do when we are at home than when we are at school. I had about 4 hours of schoolwork today. Luckily my school is on a 2 hour delay tomorrow, I think a lot of schools in the area are doing the same thing. A bit later in the afternoon, I knocked out my requirements.  I did not really do much else for the rest of the day. I am kind of happy we are going back to school tomorrow because it is quite boring when you do not have much to do for the day. - Lucas  

Today, school got called off. Instead of doing my requirements first in the day, I decided to do everything that I needed to do that was school related first. After a couple hours of schoolwork from home, I did all the daily requirements. School got called off for tomorrow as well. I kind of hope that school gets called off tomorrow because it is really boring not doing much for the whole day. The gutters on my house have some crazy icicles hanging from the gutters. I think the biggest one I saw was about 3 feet long. I really didn't expect to see huge icicles hanging from the gutters. The rest of my day was pretty laid back. - Lucas  

Today I woke up early and got my run over with. I am 3 minutes away from my goal of running less than 30 minutes for 4 miles. I finished up the rest of my requirements relatively early. The cycle has gotten more intense with an increase in minutes for everything. At about 10 in the morning my parents told me I was shoveling the snow off the driveway. That took a lot longer than I thought. We ended up getting roughly 9 inches of snow; that has to be some kind of record. This will make day 2 of my nutrition challenge, I am eating 100 percent natural foods, nothing that has been in through factory, has chemicals, or fake sugars. One difference I can already tell is my energy level has been a lot higher than usual. Its almost like the food humans were meant to eat, serve us...

Today feels like we are in the middle of a blizzard. When I went to class this morning, snow was already accumulating. there was only about an inch or 2 on the ground. Right now I would say there is about 7 inches of snow on the ground. It is supposed to keep up like this until late tonight. The snow feels like powder, it is so soft. Anyways, I started the 30 day nutrition challenge. My plan is to cut out all artificial flavors and sweeteners, along with unhealthy frozen foods. So I guess that means I am only eating 100 percent natural foods, nothing processed. It might be more difficult than I would think because I can't just go heat something up in the microwave, I actually have to make every meal. I hope all goes well and everyone stays safe and warm through the storm.

Today was a much easier school day when compared to yesterday. I ended up not getting any homework for the weekend. Although some teachers already assigned assignments for Monday just in case school gets canceled because of the upcoming snow. Speaking of which, I hope that black belt class at the Lake Norman location does not get canceled tomorrow morning because of weather. When I came home from school, I tried to squeeze in some requirements before weekday black belt class. After black belt class, me and my family went over to the grocery store to stock up on food for the weekend. I came home and ate dinner and will soon be going to bed to prepare for tomorrow morning's class (hopefully) - Lucas

Today was quite rough. Last night I hardly got any REM sleep. For some reason I had some crazy insomnia. I thought I would easily get over this for the day which I did. Unfortunately school was very difficult today. I guess all the teachers piled on assignments to make up for the couple days of school we missed. After my exhausting school day I went to King Tiger for leaderships and a mentor session. I came home and tried to knock out my requirements before class but I could not get them all finished. I went back to King Tiger for a mentee session and sparring class. After sparring class was when the lack of sleep was really catching up to me. When I came home for a second time after class, I had to finish my requirements, eat dinner, and also study for a pretty big math test. I probably...

I woke up relatively early today. I immediately knocked out my run before I did anything else. Once I cooled down, I continued to complete the rest of my requirements. After I was done working out, I logged on to my school computer to see what needed to be done. I probably spent 3 solid hours completing assignments, listening to lectures, and taking notes. After all of that was said and done, I did not do much for the rest of my day. I hope The roads are good enough to get to school tomorrow.

My school got called off again tomorrow. Its comical that 2 inches of snow / ice will completely wreck school systems for half the week. States in the north often get multiple inches of snow and they still commute to work and school like any other regular day. I spent a lot of my time today trying to clear ice off of my driveway. I never thought of how steep my driveway was until it was coated in ice. I felt like a penguin the way I would start at the top of the driveway to hack away at the ice and then make one wrong step and begin to slide all the way back down to the sidewalk. Without the help of the sun, I think my driveway would still be a sheet of ice. Later in the day I did my requirements. As I was relaxing later in the...

Today in the morning, all the snow on the trees had melted and was dripping on the ground which made a lot of the snow on the ground melt away as well. School got called off tomorrow so I will not have to worry about that. Later in day the towards the evening, the temperature dropped below freezing again. This means all the residual snow and wetness on the ground got turned into ice. As I was walking through my neighborhood on the sidewalk, I slipped and fell on some black ice. I heard it is going to get down to around 15 degrees tonight so there will most likely be the same amount of ice everywhere as there is right now. Stay safe everyone, watch where your walking, don't slip like me. -Lucas

I chose to sleep in today and when I woke up I was greeted with about 1.5 - 2 inches of snow.  Luckily this snow is great for sledding so I will probably see what hills I can find. I quickly finished my requirements and I ended up running on my treadmill. Surprisingly I ran my fastest time for 4 miles. I managed to shave close to 3 minutes off of my time. Once again hopefully everyone stays safe through the storm. - Lucas

I woke up and went to black belt class. The zoom meeting was not working so Master Marcus led our class this morning. Today we focused on our takeaways. I previously thought there was 10 takeaways that we needed to know however Master Marcus informed us that there is 32. I don't know how there is 32 different ways to escape someone's grasp on you but I will be eager to learn about them. We practiced 1 - 14 today. After class I came home and did my requirements. luckily this week we stay at the same minute amounts for everything. After my requirements I did some chores around the house. I am anticipating some harsh weather to come our way, hopefully it sticks until at least Monday. - Lucas

I woke up today and went to school. Today was Friyay, unfortunately this does not mean anything except the weekend is near. I came home and did my requirements and then went to class. I hope something magical related to the weather happens. Snow would be great but really anything that gets students out of school would be wonderful. Regardless what we get, hopefully everyone will stay safe. today marks the 1/4 of the way done with cycle for most; today marks the 1/8 of the way done for me and all the others testing for their masters or above. I feel like the cycle has been a lot less difficult ever since I started to embrace it. We know what is in store for us so instead of dreading or not looking forward to the obligations that the cycle brings, might as well embrace every challenge that gets thrown your way. -...

Today I woke up and went to school. Nothing unordinary or extraordinary happened, so I guess you can say my school day was pretty ordinary. I went to King Tiger to do some leadership credits and help out with a couple of classes. After that I went home to eat dinner and then went back to King Tiger for sparring class. I feel like every time I go to sparring, either we practice something new or learn something new. After sparring class I came home and finished my requirements and studied for the rest of the evening.

Today was my regular Wednesday schedule. I woke up at 4:30 (AM) and went on my run. I was relatively slow because I am still recovering from my knee "injury". Anyways, when I got back from my run which was freezing cold, it was 24 degrees outside. Luckily I like the cold weather. When I got home I got ready for school. Typical things happened at school. After school I came home and started doing requirements. The rest of the evening was uneventful, hopefully will feel better tomorrow for sparring class. - Lucas

Today I woke up and went to school like usual. Nothing to eventful happened at school. After school I went to do some leadership credits, that is going to become my new schedule. After school, go to King Tiger. When I got home I finished requirements. Nothing else eventful happened. Hopefully tomorrow will be more exiting than today. - Lucas

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. School is not in session today so I got to stay home and not worry about school.  I woke up and started doing requirements. The cycle has upped the intensity, we moved on from 3 minutes of basic exercises, to 4 minutes, along with 8 minutes of kicks. I do not really have to much to say. I will be spending my day relaxing and preparing for my chemistry test tomorrow.

So far my morning has been pretty good. I woke up and went to class, we practiced a lot of self defense in that class. I am feeling pretty good about myself, I feel like I know everything pretty thoroughly. After class I jumped right into my requirements, I started with those very early because I am leaving to see family very shortly. I am going to Greenville SC. I will be back by Sunday at noon. Quite a busy day. - Lucas

Today was pretty eventful, at school I had three tests, English, History, and AP Environmental science. All of which, luckily were pretty easy compared to some of the tests that were given in the past. When I got home from school, I started with the requirements. My knee is still giving me trouble, Hopefully that mess clears up soon. The rest of my night will be used for recovery. - Lucas

Today was pretty alright, I woke up to go to school, not a lot of interesting things happened their. When I got home, I started doing my requirements. I noticed that my knee was feeling a lot better today but still nowhere near back to its original capabilities. I finished up my requirements and then went to sparring class. All was good, I got home and began to study, I got a couple tests tomorrow. After I finished studying for about an hour in a half, I iced my knee. Yesterday when I iced my knee, I used and icepack, today I filled up a bowl and added ice cubes to it. This made the whole process way more intense. Hopefully it will be feeling better tomorrow. Until then, - Lucas.