Rock The Vote

Rock the vote, people!

Haidong Gumdo 1st Dan

This weekend I had another 3-day Korean sword seminar with Grandmaster JeongWoo Kim, Chief of Education for the World Haidong Gumdo Federation.  At the end of the seminar I successfully tested for Black Belt in Gumdo along with four other HMD Academy instructors.

Our academy was the first stop of Master Kim's 2024 Pan American Haidong Gumdo Masters Training Seminar, in which he is conducting six 3-day seminars in six different United States during November before returning to Korea.

I look forward to continuing to train with Master Kim whenever possible, and I'm pleased to have a better understanding of Gumdo to share with my students.

해동  HaiDong!

I Voted

I voted.

I parked near the courthouse and went in to vote in person.  It was quick and easy, with no waiting.

Plan your vote today.  You can literally google "How to vote".  Then vote today, if you can and you're ready.

Don't forget to vote.

Happy Halloween 2024

Happy Halloween!  

We had good weather this year, a little windy with temperatures in the upper fifties during Trick Or Treat time.  I had a good turnout, with 106 trick-or-treaters stopping by my house this evening.  My youngest daughter decorated the house, and kids and grandkids had a good time.  

I hope you all did as well.

Not Entirely True

I've made some things for you, Constant Reader; you see them laid out before you in the moonlight.  But before you look at the little handcrafted treasures I have for sale, let's talk about them for a bit, shall we?  It won't take long.  Here, sit down beside me.  And do come a little closer.  I don't bite.

Except ... we've known each other for a very long time, and I suspect you know that's not entirely true.

Is it?

-- Stephen King (1947 -), American author and screenwriter, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Introduction (2015)

All Hallows' Eve

And it was the afternoon of Halloween.

And all the houses shut against a cool wind.

And the town full of cold sunlight.

But suddenly, the day was gone.

Night came out from under each tree and spread.

Behind the doors of all the houses there was a scurry of mouse feet, muted cries, flickerings of light.

Behind one door, Tom Skelton, aged thirteen, stopped and listened.

The wind outside nested in each tree, prowled the sidewalks in invisible treads like unseen cats.

Tom Skelton shivered.  Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve.  Everything seemed cut from soft black velvet or gold or orange velvet.  

-- Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012), The Halloween Tree (1972) pgs 1-2

The Witches Fly

The witches fly
Across the sky,
The owls go,"Who? Who? Who?"

And the black cats yowl
And the green ghosts howl,
Scary Halloween boo!

-- Nina Willis Walter (1900 - 1977), American author and poet, in: Jill Bialosky History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life (2012), p 104