Back in the Dojo Again

I am back in the dojo again. I'm not teaching at the moment, but I am there to help out around the school any way I can. We'll see if I may or may not be back on the mats teaching, depending on how the rest of this year goes. I left the dojo around this time last year to work a different full-time job near home. Earlier this year (around March), I ended up leaving the job because I wanted to focus more on music. Working at the karate school is unlike any other job I've had in my experience. It's the only job that I've been able to have a sense of fulfillment when I'm there. Pictured below is one of the first classes I taught, back in 2017. Thank you Sensei Dorene for capturing it.

Martial Arts has been a huge part of my life since I was young. The first movie I ever watched was "The Shaolin Temple" starring Jet Li. My parents often tell me about how I used to run that old VHS tape over and over again. As a kid, I was obsessed with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li. When I was 11 years old, I started learning Kung Fu every Saturday at my Chinese School, and when I got to college, I joined the Wushu Club at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). After college, there was a brief period of time when I would meet up with my Kung Fu school brothers on Friday nights and we'd practice Wing Chun in the garage. Since then, I had stopped doing martial arts for a while, until I started working at the karate school.

I'm not quite sure how much of my time I can devote to it. Currently, I'm only there on the weekends because I intend to keep my focus on music. However, I don't think that I would ever stray too far away from martial arts because I did grow up during a time when everything was all about Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Ninja Gaiden, The Karate Kid, Bloodsport, etc.. you get the picture.

Anyways, I guess all I'm trying to say is... Sensei Johnny is back in the dojo again!