2025-07-02

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had a small rank exam tonight, while results won’t be reported until Monday’s class, everyone did well. Just showing up and taking a test is a test of courage and persistance, so everyone should be proud of themselves. If I had to pick an overall focus for improvement, it’d be working on the ability to dial aggression up to 11 on demand.

Sure, want to “refrain from violent behavior” but, when it’s necessary, we need to be able to “flip the switch” and get the job done. It’s not that “violence is never the answer.” It’s that violence is the last resort.

We also had a new student join class tonight - a visually challenged person - and she did great! Ordinarily I rely on a “look at me and copy what I’m doing” method of teaching, but this is going to make me improve my ability to describe what I’m after in greater detail. I’m looking forward to the challenge and so is she.

Our next rank exam is already on the calendar for Wednesday, September 3.