And so ends day 1 of Festival 30. It was a great day of fantastic martial arts training! At the start of the event Anshu Stephen K Hayes asked us all what we were hoping to get out of the weekend. What were some of our burning desires.
Although I didn’t speak up at that point interesting enough the first few things we worked on fit exactly with some of the things I was currently working on/questioning. Truly a Shiken Haramitsu Daikomyo moment for me 
After the first two hours several of us were broken off and put through some of the testing process that is preparation for our next promotion. It was a real honor to get to demonstrate for several of the seniors and to work with the other folks also working towards their next promotions. I had a great time…made some mistakes…did some stuff I felt was pretty cool…and definitely discovered a few areas to work on when I get back. All in all an enjoyable process that I feel lucky to have been able to go through regardless of the current outcome.
Anyway….thats it for todays update. Its time for my head to hit the pillow HARD and sleep for 10 hours 
Another exciting day of training begins at 10am tomorrow!
Michael Akitsohi Stinson
Phoenix Quest Center for Martial Arts