Home again !

We left LA at two PM LA time where the temp was eighty three degrees. At twelve midnight, give or take a minute Pittsburgh time, we arrived to twenty some degree weather. Not only am I jet lagged ( yes I understand it was only a three hour time difference) but I for some reason I feel foggy ( maybe hot and cold mixing :-)

The tournament was disappointing for a few reasons. First of all the hosting region was short judges for all rings so they put some unqualified people in who were not trained in judging let alone the fact that they had never even seen a rule book, let alone read one. The region was also unprepared and many mistakes were made .
Our first taste of " What ???" was when Robby was eliminated from the Kata (form)competition. You could hear a "What?" from the crowd as the flags signified a loss for him. This was disheartening but We understand that the judges decision was final and coped.Later we found out that three of the four judges ( those who signaled the win for his opponent) were untrained people from the same karate club as the winner) In the kumite ( fighting portion) the inexperienced people tried to eliminate Robby again though he was in place for the third place metal. This was not caught until the metals were being handed out and they realized that they only had a first and second( again students from their school ) At this an experienced judge stopped the proceedings and called a Judges meeting . Here Robby was in third place and should have never been eliminated( Oh boy !)and the judges realized their mistake, so he was awarded his metal.
Michael did not metal at all, though he probably should have . However it didn't effect his chances at working for a scholarship since his performance looked good and there were so many judging mistakes ( some say discrimination )that the collegiate coaches didn't even look at scores.
Next year the national tournament will be held in Philadelphia where the vary, Sensei Okazaki( the man who brought shotoKan here from Japan), and his region will host. there has already been a warning put out that judges will get rule books and be tested on them before even being considered to judge.
The trip was not all bad though. I had never been to California before. Though I don't think I will ever have the desire to go to LA again, A better area in California may appeal to me in the future. I guess I just expected more. Our Hotel was fancy enough and even nickel and dimed( OK ten and twentied) us like in nice areas. For instance,we had to pay to use their Internet service in the hotel ( only 10.00 a day ) Our mini bar was charging six dollars for a small bottle of Gator aid, a bowl of oatmeal with banana puree( mashed up over ripe banana ya know) was seventeen fifty ( yes US dollars:-) and so on. My main complaint was that we rented a car for a few hours so we could buy some souvenirs and the closest shop was ten miles away and took over an hour to get to because of traffic. Once there it was a slum of a place on the beach. The two gift shops were the size of walk in closets with cement floors. Since they were on a dirt path to the pier and had no doors(like the mall there was metal pull down gates for when the place was closed) everything was covered with dust . I was disgusted to even touch anything so we bought our souvenirs from a small overpriced shop in the hotel lobby.
We did have some fun in the hotel outdoor pool and hot tub though we realized too late that the hot tub was overchemicaled when my bathing suit faded from black to pale grey when I got out. The hotel did offer to pay for it but it was a season old and I wasn't even sure of the value so they bought us an eighty dollar breakfast (yes twenty per person plus tax and tip) so no big deal. In the end it was all family time and we all view it as over all positive. I even found time to pray in traffic, on planes, at the air ports, etc. This prayer even led me to a better understanding of many things, and some answers on things that I have been asking. I guess in the end family and prayer trump all of the disappointments on the way ( even when the baggage check guy messed with our returning airplane seats and ended up scattering us throughout the plane)If nothing else we learnt as a family to roll with the punches .

I will post some pictures a little later.I do not have many of the tournament as Mike ( who has a nice hard drive camcorder) did mostly video and friends from our region( with very expensive camera equipment) did still photos. We will trade copies so that we will get the best of both. I will post his when we get them.