Festival 2008 was a blast! I always look forward to the awesome teaching and the chance to hang out with old friends but this year felt special. I've been thinking about it--trying to figure out what made this Festival so different from previous years. Was I more comfortable with myself? (Probably). Was I more skilled? (Thankfully). Was I happier than last year? (I hope so). Did I have more reasons to need to connect? (Sadly).

So even though I can't point to a single reason why this Festival is the best one yet, I have decided that Festival will be my personal New Year event. Rather than assess the year and making resolutions that I forget by February, I'll use Festival as my barometer for gauging mental & physical health plus evaluating my ability to bring my goals to fruition.

Where was I last year...the dojo only had 70 students, now we are at 125. I plan to double our school in the next 6 months and I'm excited about our positioning in the community. Last year, I was still in shock from the death of my father, which happened less than a month previously. Last year, I was trying to get the bare bones of my new kata and now I'm starting to have better mind/body coordination. Next year, we'll have 300+ students and I'll be looking to refine the kata lessons and make them my own. Maybe I should also arrange voice lessons...

~Mary Aitoshi