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Awards Ceremony At The Dojo
Topic Started: Dec 12 2010, 12:22 PM (447 Views)
Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Last night was our dojo's Christmas party and awards ceremony.

Yours Truly was given a trophy for 2010's Student Of The Year. :)

Totally unexpected, and very humbling....

*bowing* :)
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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George K
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Finally
Photos?

And, congratulations!
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Frank_W
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One. Let me upload it and post it. :)
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Frank_W
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Egad.. It came out huge... Meh....

Here:

Posted Image
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Many congratulations, Frank. That sounds like one of those awards that mean a great deal; it's not just for what you did, but for who you are. :thumb:
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brenda
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..............
Super, Frank!! :clap: That's a very fun thing to have happen as a surprise. Congrats. :)
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Totally awesome, man! But c'mon, it's not like that couldn't have been at least partially expected. :wink:

Congrats again!
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Osu! Very happy for you, Frank!
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
Awesome! Congratulations Frank!
___.___
(_]===*
o 0
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Fantastic, Frank - congratulations!
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Frank, you are an amazing student - of so many things.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Luke's Dad
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!!!!!

The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Congratulations, Frank! :thump: :thumb:
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Frank_W
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Thanks, everyone! :) I am so proud and humbled, at the same time. It only makes me want to work that much harder. Certainly, no one is more conscious of my own limitations and liabilities than me, so I am redoubling my efforts. Thank you again.

Also, I didn't want to say anything until I had a little more time in the bank, but I quit smoking on the 3rd of December, and this time, I'm approaching things in a different way: I've come to realize that smoking is an emotional addiction. It's not a physical addiction, because physically, nicotine is just not that addictive. (Compared to alcohol, heroin, cocaine, or meth.)

Mentally, it's not addictive: There's not a smoker alive who isn't also an expert in just how bad cigarettes are for them.

So all that's left is the emotions. With cigarettes, we've associated them with relaxation, with taking a break, with looking cool, being rebellious, etc. etc. A rolled-up tube of paper filled with tobacco cannot possibly contain or confer any of these things. Those feelings come from inside of us. Not from the cigarette or the act of smoking. In fact, smoking without thinking of anything else but smoking, and without doing anything else but smoking, is rather eye-opening: The experience of smoking itself, falls rather flat and two-dimensional.

In the past, I've used Chantix, Wellbutrin/Zyban/Bupropion, gums, patches, going cold turkey, whatever... in a bid to quit smoking. Physically, I may have stopped the act of smoking, but without addressing the emotional component of smoking, I never really addressed the addiction, so every time I tried to quit, I would fall flat on my face. I kept doing what I was doing and getting what I was getting, even though I was expecting (somehow) a different result. Not real smart...

This time, if I'm craving a cigarette, I acknowledge it. "What we resist persists," so I'm not fighting the craves, not denying them, but neither am I acting on them or labeling them as "bad," or trying to push them away or distract myself from them. I'm acknowledging them, accepting them, feeling them without attaching any emotion to them, and releasing them. It sounds like a small thing, but it's made a huge difference.
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Course, the guy next to you in the pic looks like he needs an @ss kicking, and I think you're just the guy to deliver it!
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Ahhh, grasshopper... you have learned!

10 days is phenomenal! If the physical addiction isn't over yet, it soon will be. All that's left is the habit. And when those cravings come, ask yourself if you are willing to waste all of these days that you've already succeeded.
Edited by Luke's Dad, Dec 13 2010, 09:47 AM.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Frank_W
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Luke's Dad
Dec 13 2010, 09:43 AM
Course, the guy next to you in the pic looks like he needs an @ss kicking, and I think you're just the guy to deliver it!
:lol2: That's my Sensei, a 5th degree black belt. Even I'm not enough of a bad-ass to take him on. :lol2:

As for smoking, I feel like I have completely killed the addiction, rather than simply stopping the physical act. I don't want to be one of these ex-smokers that spends the rest of their lives jonesin' for a cigarette, or quit now, only to start again in a year or two, because I haven't truly addressed the roots of the addiction. This quit is IT. :)
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Please, the guy's a *****. Look at him standing there all smarmy like. You could drop in in one shot. Pow! Down he goes.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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blondie
Bull-Carp
Congrats Frank.

x 2.

I would love to get a Student of the Year Award at my age. You must be just beaming inside. And your family must be very proud.

It's kind of reinforcing how an award can motivate things, ain't it?

I like your smoking mantra too. We need to say things like this to ourselves. I wonder how many ex-smokers continue with their mantras years afterwards?

Keep up your good work.

:)
:)
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Frank_W
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:lol2:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
Excellent news, Frank. 10 days seems like a pretty solid length of time. :thumb:
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Frank_W
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Thanks... I've quit for longer periods, but I was always white-knuckling it, going through it on sheer willpower. This feels "cleaner." It feels like I've unraveled the glamour, the spell, the magic trick, and in doing so, it no longer has this mysterious grip on me.
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Luke's Dad
Dec 13 2010, 09:45 AM
Ahhh, grasshopper...
Beat me to it.

Way to go Frank!
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Frank_W
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Thank you! :)
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Frank_W
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blondie
Dec 13 2010, 09:54 AM
Congrats Frank.

x 2.

I would love to get a Student of the Year Award at my age. You must be just beaming inside. And your family must be very proud.

It's kind of reinforcing how an award can motivate things, ain't it?

I like your smoking mantra too. We need to say things like this to ourselves. I wonder how many ex-smokers continue with their mantras years afterwards?

Keep up your good work.

:)
:)
I missed this. Thank you, Blondie!! I really don't have any set mantra or anything, this time. I am just me, and the addiction is part of me, cigarettes and smoking were a part of me, and the craves, when they come, are just another part of me. Without self-acceptance, all the effort in the world isn't going to move even the smallest stone. I accept that I was an addict. It's evident by the fact that I tried numerous times to quit, and failed.

The craves are also something to be accepted, rather than fighting against them. Fighting against anything just gives it more energy. The more I fight and the more I reject, the stronger it gets, until finally, I end up causing myself to crack and break under the pressure wave that I have created.

It's like having my right hand go to war with my left hand. It's senseless and it's a good recipe for failure.

As for the award, yes... It's very gratifying. Sensei has kept me moving right along, and I've had to work hard to keep pace. I've put in hours and hours and buckets of sweat, and trained my heart out in the dojo, and at home, as well.

Now I'm thinking that it won't be enough, when I earn black belt. I want to be the best black belt this dojo has ever had. :) I'm going to keep on setting that bar as high as I can... Even if I fall short, I've still attained far more than I originally thought I would. :thumb:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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