Candidate Journals

Perserverance ..."steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success...."really these days, that is what I hold onto. There have been days (that go back to the spring cycle in March) that I have just wondered "why"... I can't seem to get one ailment well, or partially well and I come up with something new. I fell this morning, not sure if it was before I got out of bed, or as I was trying to get out of bed.. I've been getting out of bed all by myself for quite a few years now.. It all just took me by surprise. Slammed my shoulder on the edge of the bed, I laugh at another ailment. It is amazing how much we take for granted with our body and how it functions. I already fight pain daily, and now I have this balance thing going on... I will tell...

I got to spend the night with my best friend Zac and we played zombies until we couldn't stay awake. Had to get to come home to cut the grass and then heading to the lake with my girlfriend.

about 30 cousins came over today, we had a good time.

Today my uncle came up to Charlotte to buy a car from my mom because e sold his. Also My dad got a new Mac so I got the old one.

Today my uncle came up to Charlotte to buy a car from my mom because e sold his. Also My dad got a new Mac so I got the old one.

I hope this counts. I was lying in bed then I remember Master Xhelley saying that I need to write journal entries and thank goodness I had my iPad next to me in bed so I wrote a journal entry. So today was fun. We (twin) ran with my big bro to the greenway but we had to ask a lady directions because we couldn't find it. Well then we went to our house by lake Norman and moved stuff into the car and yeah. Then we watched a movie went to bed. It sounds boring but was actually fun.

Today i went to my friends house to play. We went for a run. It was tiring. Then i went to PDQ to eat food. Now it is time to sleep

Got to sleep in on a saterday it felt great. After that i went to the gym and ran a ton. I prefer treadmills running outside idk why. Then i did alotttt of sit-ups. Then i went some and chilled all day :D

Today was not quite what was planned but all is good. Bad news, minimal on tkd, but good news alot done on the home front and hopefully will set up the next two days.

I took my first class since my busted leg yesterday. A bit on the ugly side, and a bit soar today. I still did some things, but I will definitely be taking some ibuprofen.

Today I went to Carowinds. I rode the nighthawk, the fury, and the intimidator. I rode the nighthawk for the first time today. It was awesome. I might go again later on.

I got late start this morning or at least I was back on my schedule.  Cereal and milk for breakfast and of course my coffee.  I did a five mile hike and few other requirements.  Will be relaxing for rest of the day.

Today I am going to Outback Steak House with my grandparents for my birthday. I am going to have steak with ketchup. I walked the dog 2 miles.

Using today to get a bunch of chores done. Got yardwork done, gave the dog a bath, went for a run. Just going to do some cleaning up around the house as well. Pretty sore today, but still able to get requirements done. Probably use tomorrow to work on essays!

Today We're going to get cleaned and organized in the house. I have found old toys and books from my childhood and it makes me look back what seems so long ago.

Last night we had our Friday night football high school home game against Shelby. We were winning by one touchdown at the beginning and then it started storming so we went out to get some food to pass the time. It started back and it was a tied game 21 to 21 we threw an interception and they scored in the last 3 minutes of the 4th quarter. Shelby is a good team and we played a great game.

today was awesome i woke up and went to school it was Friday!!! so i had a lot of exams i did my math and my science exam! i got a 100% on both i felt happy and also proud i feel like i was studying hard last night well when school was over i went back home i walked my dog and went to my guitar lessons it was fun i was learning a song for my moms birthday I'm half way through the song almost don't but here i go i only got 2 more weeks left to practice! when my guitar lessons where over i went to church and then ate with my mom at this pizza place it was the best because i got to spend time with here i got home right about 9pm so I'm about to go to bed right now goodnight!!! tgif!!

i went to school as usual, and then when i came back, i did my requirements for today Then i went to my friends house. I am sleepy now so bye bye

Today at school we had a math and geography exam. I think I did good. I went to the Belmont location for the open map.

Its hailing pretty bad right now. I Was planning to go out for a run but i guess i cant do that anymore. I will just double the push ups and stuff so i wont have to do it this weekend. 

Went down to Master Shin's after school today and worked on my forms, and self defenses. Looking forward to a long weekend. Dad said that we may go gem mining. Looking forward to it.

Today in science we had a notebook quiz. The questions were really hard. The whole class went by just with the quiz. I am glad I finished because if we didn't we had to stay after school to finish. I don't want to stay on a Friday.

today I am still at school and I got some free time and so I am logging and journaling so far today has been pretty good and I am looking forward to getting out of school.

Today I had to pay a visit to the Cardiologist to check heart because rate was low.  I tried to explain to my Dr everything is fine it's just my exercise routine.  Of course it turned out all good.  I returned home and went for 4.2 miles and felt great.  If I only had my requirements done!!!  The finish line is closer.

All right! Made it to Friday! Got up early and went to the gym again. Ran 2 miles, then did more core and arms. Practiced some inclined/reverse sit ups with extra weights. That will really help with my V situps especially. Doing the gym on top of black belt requirements definitely calls for SORE muscles! I'm sure I will work out the soreness this weekend with chores around the house and yard work with requirements. I also received my first recommendation letter yesterday!

In science. Just finished the science study guide. Bored. Ryan(he sits next to me) is looking at everybody's requirements. He's doing the cycle next spring.yaaaay 3 day weekend.......

Got to the gym and went medium heavy on legs today! I can tell my endurance and power is no where near what it used to be, but I'm moving in the right direction. I would like to be back on stage next year.

Today at school on the morning anoncments they showed this cool contest and you are saposed to sell as many little coupon cards as you can and there is a lot of cupons on they have tenders, kilwins, brusters and putt put buy a game get a game free it is cool.  After school was over I rode the van back to tae Kwon do and took class and did homework.  So today was pretty fun.

Still learning as I move forward with my journey. I was finally able to get back into the gym this morning to work out my shoulders and abs. The gym is OK. Just OK. Nothing great about it at all except it's closer than the Gold's Gym in Gastonia. I get my work out in and I leave. I'm looking to grow a little more and would like to get back on stage next year. The left knee is still giving me some doubt when I move a certain way. One thing for sure is I've lost proprioception in that knee. I find that I lose balance easily now.

Today i got a lot done. We did tons of bur-pees in black belt class. After that i went home and did tons of sit ups and some push ups. I cant wait for this 3 day weekend so i can just chill all day. And do requirements of course. 

 BB class was fun and work tonight.   I felt the training we did tonight gave us reason to listen and really focus on the moment.   I was able to do some requirements. 

Today was full of studying and practiing chemistry equations and vocab but I compleley understand it now and I feel like I could do it with my eyes closed

Today i went t a football game in the Bank Of America Stadium and watched my team lose.

I went to school, then i came home, and went to a football game. we lost

Very productive day today- -up early- -requirements - -work- - then off to the dojang. Very happy tomorrow is Friday and sooo looking forward the weekend.

I got a lot of requirements done before school today. Had fun at school today. Learned a lot. Helped out with classes today. We had a lot of new students. It was awesome. After I went out to dinner with my mom :)

Today in school, i had a substitute! It wasn't good. My class went crazy. When i came back, i did my homework. Then i did my requirements. I went to black belt class today. I had a normal day

Thursday will be my catch up day. I didn't have time yesterday to do my run, finish homework,eat dinner, and still go to sleep at a decent time. So, I will double up on what I miss on Thursdays. I only have a couple of journal entries left. YAY!

I hope the "slow and steady wins the race" strategy works for me. It is obvious that my body won't tolerate doing all the physical requirements in 10 weeks.  I'm trying to pace myself through this audit cycle. My goal is to do as much as I can without injury or exacerbating my asthma.  Free mat class was good today even though I was by myself. I really focused on kicks and poomsaes. I've taken magnesium and coconut water. Hopefully no leg cramps tonight. I don't ever want to go through that again.

today in school we did virtual lab in science. We had a quiz in math, s.s, and l.a. All the quizzes were pretty easy though. That is pretty much all we did in school today.

Today was a regular day at school. Nothing new happened. We had our classes, ate lunch, went to specials, went to recess then we went home. Then I helped with class at King Tiger. Then my dad picked me up.

Another day full of school work and working on my requirements. Helped out at Master Shin's today. Had 3 new people join the class today.

Day 5-Leg is about the same. I am a bit anxious and a bit frustrated. I can't get not being able to finish the BB cycle out of my head.

Today at school during recess we started playing soccer. My team scored the first goal on the opponents' goal. they later scored and right after that the high school students joined in. Then they scored again and they were winning. After that my team scored but then we had to leave. I had to return to my class and resume school.

Had a long workout at the gym this morning. Ran 3 miles before I actually got into the gym, too. Focused a lot on core today, but also knocked out some pull ups, arms, and legs. I like running outside SO much better than on a treadmill or elliptical machine. It was pretty humid this morning, though. Sweat, sweat, sweat!

Going to have to see Todd about my elbow.Jerk presses and thrusters were killing me yesterday.

I had a long day driving to a small town , Yamasee, SC, to attend a funeral.  Of course the drive back seemed more difficult.   It wasn' all bad; I did stop at a Cracker Barrel and had good dinner.  Turnip Greens, Catfish, Cornbread and Glass of Lemonade.  Yum, yum!

Good day today. Busy at work then home to work on requirements. I practice taking the written exam about twice a week and I'm getting all of my essays in order. Forgot about my creative form, though. Gulp....

Today at school we did what we normally do. We went to our class, ate lunch, went to specials, had recess spend some time in homeroom and went home. Today at king tiger I helped the afterschool class then I went home.

Today was okay, I went to class in Belmont at 4:30, took PMAA at 5:30, and stayed to help with the 6:30 class. I thought that the 4:30 class was really cool because we put on double chest protectors and we could kick harder than usual. I liked the PMAA class because we got to work on knives. I was working with someone today and Master Shin had just showed us a pretty complicated change of grip and he got it right on the first try! I thought that it was pretty cool... Today was also Hayden Currier's birthday so we got to beat him up with noodles:)

I had a pretty chill day today. I went to school and stuff and i have straight As. lol its only like the 2nd week tho so there only been like 3 assignments so. When i got home from school i went to the gym and did some stuff and played basketball cuz ball is life. And now im tired so ima eat cereal and sleep :D

Today I went to school in 6th grade and its not as bad as I thought it would be even though its not my first day.  when I came home i started on this auto biagraphy homework.  It was pretty easy.  when i finished that i worked on my division facts for a test.  Today was pretty easy.

Had a good sweaty Wednesday! Worked on WTF forms with some of the masters this morning at the Lake Norman dojang. Got some more requirements done, and helped out with classes. I'm glad some of the students who had to re-do their written pre test passed today!

Today, i went for a run in the morning before going to school. When i came back, i ate breakfast and then went to school. When school was over, i did some requirements and my homework. Then i went to sparring. Apparently, instead of sparring, i had to retake the written test because i failed. But after i retook it, i passed! I was so happy. Then we went to Harris Teeter to get some groceries. Now it is time to sleep

Yesterday was productive. I was the only one at the midday adult class (and I was late because of work), so it was free mat class. I was able to get some requirements done (poomsaes, kicks, some self defense, sit ups, push ups). It was a productive little hour. It felt good to keep my commitments. But last night, just as I was going to sleep, I had the worse leg cramp of my life. Actually, this was the first real leg cramps I have ever had. I felt faint and nauseous with the pain. I broke out in a sweat. Then I panicked because I was on call. There was no way I could even get down stairs, or drive with such cramps. I hobbled to the bathroom for some Tylenol and the pain finally eased off after 20 minutes. I knew exactly which muscles were cramping, my adductors from...

Woke up early again to get some requirements done before school. Had a lot of math homework to do when I got home but I still managed to make it to all 3 classes. I took the red belt and higher sparring class and the Pmaa class, helped with the last class.

Today at school everybody's seventh period class (My school has seven periods.) was our first period class. The reason was the 3rd graders were having BOGs (Before of Grade). Everybody had to stay inside for 3 hours. After that we went to our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period. Today I did my re-take for the written Black Belt Pre-Test and passed. That is all.

Today i went to school and didn't make the team i tried out for so the rest of my day i was in a bad mood.

I went to school then I came home, did my homework, and then my requirements

My brother, Trent, and I were rolling on the couch. We also had fun but I also got some requirements in. What I did was roll back and forth, back and forth 30 times. I was a little dizzy at the end but the good thing is that I did something that I needed to work on.

Today was just another day at school. In homeroom my math teacher was being really confusing and when I asked a question she made it even more confusing. I have a lot of homework to do so I guess I need to figure out a schedule for my week.

Today was my birthday! I turned 12 today. I got a Doctor Who magnet, Swedish Fish, and homework. I wish I didn't have homework tonight.

I been very busy today. When to school then came home to help mom and dad in the yard. I'm now reading a good book for AR. It's one of the Percy Jackson books. Mom is getting ready to make breakfast for dinner tonight. YUM!!!!!

I didn’t realize how long it has been since I logged in my requirements, but I am caught up now to what I have actually done. I will do better with that. I used to be on my laptop every day and now it might be once a week. I don’t like to get behind, but it looks like I am there and need to get working on getting back on track. I guess I am not feeling the urgency, but time is going by so fast. Hopefully I will take advantage of an extra day off from work and be productive. I need to make a list of things that I need to learn or work on to get it right, so I can work on these things with my mentor before something new comes along to add to the list. I have enjoyed tweaking the poomsaes for the most...

Today went by very fast I thought because we had a lab experiment in chemstry and we had sang an acapella song in chorus and it sounded great.

So you would think that after umpteen days of pull ups I could do at least one with out the assist. Not looking that way so far, guess I just keep working with my red friend. Up early every morning to knock out the pushups, sit ups and pull ups, before work, as that is what is working for me so will continue on. Slightly concerned about all the poomsae changes especially the difference in blocking - -need to get more review on that. Other than that looking forward to a great day!!!

Toady was really complicated. my teachers gave me a lot of homework and I had to go home in between classes to get it done and I'm still up at 11:00. Hopefully they won't give me anymore.

I was watching this a TV show that shows people with super human abilities. One could sniff like a dog. Another one could climb using only her fingertips. She climbed a 50 foot rock face in 13.4 seconds. There was also a man who could hold two planes in place and keep them from taking off without getting ripped in half. If I had a super human ability it would be to jump really far. Too jump really far for football would help me with interceptions. I also want to jump really far for Parkour.

I can't believe it's already September. Only two more months until testing time! I feel like there is still so much for me to learn and do it well. Now that my legs are finally getting some feelings into them, it's time to hit the grind again. Looking forward to meeting the other masters tomorrow at LKN.

Knee is still a bit sore from the pretest. Need to get myself back in a routine.

I started piano lessons again for the year. Yay! I am excited to play something new every week. I also had a mentee session again. I went over their kicking combinations and their poomsaes. I went to black belt class afterwards too. We all retook the pre-test just to see what we got wrong. We also went over some Kukkiwon changes. It is really hard to get used to putting my blocking hand on the outside and I bet that it would be pretty funny to watch us all try to figure out which hand goes where...

Today I went to school on the bus and the bus ride was okay. When i got to school all of a sudden on the board i see the words i never want to see... HOMEWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But the homework turned out to be easy. At the end of the day when i got home i finished it in 2 minutes.

Today went by like a whirlwind! Tuesdays are almost always the busiest day for me, and today it was true as well. Got to work some on my creative form. Hopefully I will get my recommendation letters soon, and Dropbox so I can upload everything!

Today i went to school. When i came back, i did some requirements. Then i went to black belt class.Now it is time to sleep.

I went to the dentist this morning. Had a numb mouth the rest of the day lol Trying to eat and drink was weird. After school I did some homework and worked on some requirements. Tonight I went to all 3 classes and had a mentor session.

Today i went to school and tried out for the football team. I find out if I'm on the team tomorrow.

I went to school. after school, I walked home and did requirements. Then I went to TKD practice. We did Hapkido.  

Happy that my mentee is back from summer break and got to meet with her tonight- - focus will be reviewing so she does not feel lost in class. Should of, would of, could of, knocked out more requirements today but it just did not work out on certain things. Helped in the junior class, which is normal for me on Tuesdays & Thursdays, then took adult class in which we worked on hapkido form 1- - yikes something about myself and hapkido - -get it - -understand it - -it's the remember part that does not want to stick.

I felt much better today than I did yesterday and I pushed through school even though I was still stuffed up> I went home ran, played basketball and then went to two weekday classes.

Had a good day in school today. I had a Science test and think I did pretty good. Took and help teach class at Master Shin's today. Worked hard and a lot of my requirements done.

Busy day after school today. I had tennis and dance practice, so i had to run back and forth. My dance teacher needed my phone because i mixed the music we're dancing to. So I had to go help teach a play DJ for a bit, but then i had to run across the school to go to tennis. my forearm has getting better and my backhand is slowly getting there, whoopee

Uhhhh...swimming today. Poop. I got my braces changed today, pink on top, green on bottom. I got fatter rubbe barns, soooo much pressure!my jaw is so like in pressure.....

So I just finished this test thing We were lucky to have a really nice math teacher and she let us take our test home. So I'm about to go to swim. It starts at 7:00 and ends at 9:00

So it looks like I pulled my calf muscle pretty good on Saturday. It has been a long time since I have had a pain that bad. I may be out for a couple of weeks. Today is not much better than Saturday.

At school today we talked about putting decimals into order of operations. It was pretty difficult but I managed to do it. In gym we did a sit-up challenge. I did 40 altogether.

I was able to do another three miles today .   That was a major accomplishment for me in this heat.  I need to get mind and body working together again.   I guess I should just do my requirements and not think about it.

today i had a nice day i walked my dog in the morning and went to school!! school was alright!! i did a lot of work! but i put in some effort and finished it all up i got home about like 4;15pm and i did my home work and now im going to sleep in a few seconds but i hope i get all my questions on my home work correct goodnight!!!!

My Monday started with a Dr visit for Noah. They confirmed he's positive for Strep. When I called Lori of the news, she informed me the delivery guys didn't give her the 30 minute notice to deliver the armoire. So we rushed home from the Dr's office. When we pulled into the driveway, Lori was already home directing the two men as they maneuvered around the flower bed and up the stairs. Lori had been waiting over a year for this delivery. Before the men were dismissed, I noticed the door had been damaged during the delivery and so they loaded it back up and drove away. Lori was mad to say the least. She later left to fulfill her volunteer hours. Shortly after, I received a call that she was being verbally attacked due to a right-of-way issue on the road. Lori asked the woman if she used that language...

Today I went to class in Belmont. The A/C wasn't working so it was really hot. We worked on a lot of the changes from Kukkiwon. I am also having a lot of trouble keeping my blocking hand on the outside. We also worked on red and high red self-defense.

I woke up early this morning to do requirements and got some of it done. After my requirements I went to school, after school I went straight to Tae kwon do and did all 3 classes including some more requirements! ☺

Today was a rough day. We woke up early and i went to school. We had lots of homework, and i had to finish it before going to hyper pro class. Then after that, we went to Sports Connection for boy scouts. We got to play laser tag. It was epic. I got a mood ring or something from the prize choosing thingy. It was fun!

Not too bad for a Monday! Worked out some of my leftover soreness today. I found out that I've been counting all of my meditation requirements wrong so far. Not quite sure how that happened, but i had to go through and update the past couple months. Already looking forward to a long weekend. Plenty of stuff to still do around the house, and my wife and I may be adopting another dog from a rescue on Sunday...we'll see how that goes. :)

Today during school we talked about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals. I am think I am better at math than ELA.

Today my Social Studies teacher said my grade was going to the Renaissance Festival. The day we are going is October 14, 2015. I know somebody in the grade above who went to the Renaissance Festival with her grade and it cost $245 and I didn't believe her. I also found out that a town called Greenback, Virginia which population is only 145 people and has no microwaves, no WiFi, and no cellphones is home to one of the most advanced technology. It can pick up messages from all over the universe. Overall my day was good. See ya!

Nothing crazy exciting going on today which is good - -no major events and happy with my requirements progress. Glad I forced myself to work out yesterday and not nearly as stiff today. Looking so forward to the long weekend and hoping to have some extra time where I can start to focus on the essays and print out the written test. The essays are my biggest struggle - -hello it's been a while since school and not use to sitting down and writing papers.

I went to school and then I came home and did requirements, then i went to my Boy Scout meeting.

Today i woke up and went to school and got lots of math homework on a very busy day. After school from 3:30 to 6 i had my middle school football tryouts. Then i came home, took another shower and went to boy scouts and still had homework when i got home.

Had a good day in school. Found out that I have a Science test tomorrow so I've been studying. Had Hyper pro class tonight with Master Evens. It was a lot of fun. I'm getting ready to eat a pizza and read my book for tomorrow.

Today I played soccer at recess. My team lost because our goal was five times bigger than the other team's. But before I was on the losing team, I was on the winning team. I was switched from one team to the other. I was switched because the teams were uneven. People called me Mr. Headbutt. They called me that because I made amazing headbutts every game. My amazing headbutt this game was when I was on the winning team. This is how I spent my recess.

Today was a regular day. I went to school and I got a project from my math teacher. We have to type a paper about a number that we choose. We have to come up with facts and number sentences for that number.