Fourth Meeting

The fourth meeting went great today! Studied poems 31-40, and now we almost know enough poems to have a full proper game! For everybody that didn't make it, I'm sorry we couldn't see you there, and I hope we see you next time! In addition, for everybody not present, we agreed on a few fairly big (and exciting!) new changes:

1 - There will now be two meetings a week instead of one. Meetings will be Mondays and Thursdays from 5:30pm-8:00pm. However, the two meetings will differ slightly from each other. During the Monday meetings, we will focus on introducing new poems, strategies, rules, and the sort (for now, we'll just be working on memorizing the poems). During Thursday meetings, however, we will focus on practicing and honing our skills by studying and playing practice matches. No new material will be introduced during Thursday meetings, it's just intended to help people better themselves at karuta. The Thursday meetings will be optional, but I highly recommend that everybody come out for them! (For the time being, both Monday and Thursday meetings will be at my house. If this changes, I'll make sure to let everybody know).

2 - In addition to the extra meetings, there will now also be a monthly karuta tournament held for club members! More than likely it will be a weekend day, and everybody is implored to participate in it! Prizes will be handed out to two people: The person who places in first and the person whose rank improved the most from the previous tournament (for the first tournament, prizes will be given to people that finish first and second). The first monthly tournament will be held about three weeks from now, and I look forward to the day that it comes!

3 - Due to the club urgently needing more material (such as more tatami mats and more quality torifuda/yomifuda decks) I humbly ask for club members to donate however much they can and are willing to donate to the club for the purchase of new club equipment. 100% of donations will go towards buying stuff for the club, and I hope that we can get enough money to buy all of the material we need! However, I don't want to make club fees and dues required in any way, so it is totally optional and up to you if you want to donate any money. However, all donations will be greatly appreciated.

4 - On the Karuta Club of Lansing's website (this webpage) I'll begin implementing a calendar that details the meeting times, events, and other such things that all club members are invited to attend!

5 - A few club members and I are trying to figure out a time that all interested club members can get together for a couple hours a week to watch anime. Right now we're thinking Mondays a few hours before club meeting. For anybody interested, please shoot me an e-mail!

And those are the many exciting changes that we will be phasing in. Again, thanks to everybody for coming out and showing their support!