MMA

What I’m Thankful For

wildboom

Today is Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for! Currently, I’m out of Michigan away at some government training. I’ll be here until I graduate in April. After graduation, I’ll be moving to Phoenix where I’ll be working. I’m very thankful for the job opportunity and for Phoenix over some worse locations I could have gotten! The rest of the post will be catching up with what I’ve been up to and what I’m thankful for.

I’m thankful for the beauty of our country and of my home state Michigan. Now that I’m away, I have the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of other parts of the country. However, before I left I made a fall colors trip to the Upper Peninsula. There was this train bridge off in the woods near Negaunee, MI that I’ve always wanted to explore so I hiked out there to see how the colors were. I was a little early, but it is still an awesome spot and I’m glad I got to check it out before I leave Michigan for a while.

I’m also super thankful for my family! It’s a bummer to be away while they gather for Thanksgiving, but I know that they are supportive of what I’m doing and I know I’ll be seeing them soon in the future. They have been so helpful in helping me move all of my stuff and storing it while I’m at training. My dad will deliver my truck to me here at training soon as well. I’m especially thankful that I was able to make it to meet and witness my newest niece, Claire’s, baptism in Virginia before I headed to training.

Since my time in Michigan is over, for now, my military career is up in the air. It will come down to where I think God can use me best. I am blessed to have many opportunities, and for now, I am deciding between staying with my current unit for a potential deployment or transferring to the Reserves or National Guard in Arizona. Lots to contemplate. All I know for now is that it has been an absolute honor to be a platoon leader. I have learned so much about leadership and about myself in the two years I have been leading my platoon. Even if this is just temporary and I will come back to lead them in the future, I am very thankful for all the men I have worked with that have helped me grow and develop into the leader I am today.

I’m so thankful for the sport of jiu-jitsu and the life lessons and friends it has given me. At my last class, I was surprised with a promotion to purple belt. Coach Carl said some nice things about me and then he asked me if I had anything to say. I hadn’t planned anything, but it was one of those moments where everything comes from the heart. I gave a speech with my voice quivering with emotion as I spoke and at the end, Coach was choked up and several people in the class were crying. That’s how much this gym and the people there mean to me. I am looking forward to dropping back in when I’m in town.

Lastly, I’m so thankful especially for two of the guys above (both closest to me). Wyatt and Aaron have been my roommates for the last three years and have dealt with me leaving for 6 months at a time on multiple occasions. They have managed everything at the house without any complaints. We had so many good times camping, watching sports, going to bars, playing cards, and just chilling around talking about life or watching movies. Leaving them feels like it’s the end of an era.

Overall, I am incredibly blessed! God has been so good to me. Covid hasn’t been easy for anyone, but the people that have been there for me during this time have been such a blessing. I’m excited to finally start moving forward into a new chapter and I’m sure I’ll the people from this closing chapter will be reappearing in the next! God bless!

What I’m Thankful For

Year Zero: a film about escaping the Khmer Rouge

wildboom

Years ago, before I started high school in Saginaw and went off to college, I was learning Tae Kwon Do from a local teacher in rural Michigan where I grew up. This local teacher happened to be a national competitor in his competitions days and is now a 7th-degree master blackbelt. It was this teacher that ignited my love for martial arts and taught me so many life lessons, especially the importance of discipline, at such an impressionable time in my life.

It was always weird to me that such an accomplished man and martial artist lived in what most consider “the middle of nowhere.” One day in class he told a story, the one portrayed in the video above, about how he ended up making his way to Bad Axe, MI as a refugee. There was a reason we bowed to the American flag before class. The freedoms we enjoy here in America are blessings, blessings that didn’t exist for him as a child and still don’t exist for many in the world today.

Many years later, after college, I stopped back into the restaurant that his family owns in Bad Axe, MI, and I talked to him about my plans to travel and my plans to travel to Cambodia in particular. He gave me his advice and phone number to call in case I needed help, but what I received when I got to Cambodia was an even greater appreciation and respect for a great man who impacted my life more than he probably knows. Being at the killing fields I got to connect the dots back to that story from class and really feel the inhumanity that took place and understand the perspective that he was trying to instill in us through Tae Kwon Do.

I feel really fortunate to have been taught and impacted so greatly by this teacher and I am really excited to be able to share this story so that it can impact others as well. That wouldn’t be possible or nearly as effective without the beautiful film put together by his son, David Siev. I highly encourage you to take 15 minutes out of your day and watch this film. You’ll be better for it!

Year Zero: a film about escaping the Khmer Rouge

What’s New??

wildboom

Back in Michigan! I’m home. I’m chilling in Saginaw on a Friday night at my house right now. It feels like my life has been a revolving door of big adventures that have kept me uprooted and unable to settle. I’ve been back in Michigan for probably 5 weeks now and it’s weird. I’m here and I’m living a normal life again, or at least what constitutes as normal for me. I do know that there will be another definite uprooting adventure for me in the future. I’m waiting on a top secret security clearance, which typically takes a year, and then I’m off to military intelligence school for close to 5 months. That’s more like it. Typical Sam. However, in the mean time Saginaw is the spot apparently!

So what am I doing with my time? In keeping with always trying to stay busy and living life with a good sense of urgency, I’ve dived head first into a master program. What’s it in you ask? It is a Master of Science in Administration with a leadership concentration. So it’s essentially the most generic degree I could have chosen. So why did I chose it? Another good question, but I’ll tell you why. I get $6,000 an academic year for schooling through the Michigan state tuition assistance program. I can also get a 40% tuition discount at my alma mater Central Michigan University (FIRE UP CHIPS!!!) as a military member. So with a 40% tuition discount, my tuition rate is $340 a credit. That means I can essentially take 15 credits (well 17.6 credits, but most classes are 3 credits so really 5 classes for 15 credits) an academic year at zero cost to me! So I don’t know what I may need a master degree for, but I’d rather not be 35 and find out that I have to relearn how to school. Since I’m not that far removed from taking classes and it’s free I’m taking advantage of the benefit! But still why such a generic degree? Wouldn’t an MBA look better? Yes, I see your point but there is no 40% discount on the MBA credits. So there, that’s how I made that decision.

The summer semester is the last semester of the academic year with it resetting for the fall semester when kids typically go back to school. So in order to take full advantage of that $6,000 of state tuition assistance for this year I am cramming five 3-credit grad level classes into my already busy summer. This summer I have two 2-week training periods for the National Guard as well as weekend drills. I’ll be locked up in June at some point and then in August at another point for some good old fashioned Army training. Oh, I didn’t mention all my classes are online, and could potentially be at the global campus in Saginaw. So what am I doing to live? To stay alive and keep the lights on I’m back to work at the guitar shop. I work 10 hour days on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that gives me enough (so far) to support myself if I’m living frugally.

If that wasn’t enough, I’ve started a new hobby! I’ve been going to Jiu Jitsu 4 times a week since I got to Saginaw 5 weeks ago. With my wrestling background and other martial arts background it’s a sport that really suits me. I became pretty comfortable with the pace and technique almost right away. That doesn’t mean there still isn’t a lot to learn! If I roll with anyone who is more than a beginner it feels like I’m playing checkers and they’re playing chess! In Jiu Jitsu a black belt can often take over 10 years to achieve. There is just so much technique and muscle memory involved.

I started going because of a high school buddy who has been going for the last 3 or so years. He kicks my butt, but him and all the guys there are really great and easy to get along with. I’m really appreciative of being accepted into the gym culture pretty quickly. It’s nice to have a new group of guys to hang out with who have a similar interest. Also, my boss from the guitar shop goes a couple of times a week! How many employees get the opportunity to try and choke out there boss after work?! That’s pretty cool!

And that is what my summer will likely consist of! I had a couple of wedding to attend, but it looks like my National Guard drill weekends fall on both of them. We’ll have to play those weddings by ear, but that is part of the commitment I made! I’m excited to keep progressing in Jiu Jitsu, but I’m probably even more excited to finish these classes! I’ll update the blog with more adventurous things that will hopefully be happening in the future!

What’s New??