Ok, sorry that I haven’t been respond­ing to com­ments. My CGI is appar­ently belly-​up and I didn’t real­ize it. Thanks to every­one for the encour­age­ment about the Green Sash and the bump on the head. Sorry I didn’t acknowl­edge it sooner. GRRR!

green

Ok, per­haps I was a bit too cav­a­lier when I wrote yesterday:

Tonight’s the test for Kung Fu. I’m not too con­cerned about it.

Class usu­ally ends around 9.30pm. My test ended at 11.00pm. By the end of it, I was so emo­tion­ally and physcially spent that I felt like crying (at the end of the test I needed to do 60 push-​ups and sit-​ups. Those were pos­si­bly the most gru­el­ing of my life). But I passed! I now have my green sash (roughly equiv­a­lent to a Brown/Black Belt in other sys­tems). Two more ranks to go until I’m a Sifu (teacher).

Today, I’m a mass of aching muscle. I still don’t feel that I deserved to pass. There was so much that I know I could do better on. Then again, typ­i­cally when I test, I dwell on what needs more work, not what I did well.

grrr

I’ve been trying to reg­u­larly update, but I haven’t actu­ally been check­ing this page. I just did and real­ized that Blogger’s been having prob­lems updat­ing things and I didn’t real­ize it. No wonder no one is read­ing this.

Tonight’s the test for Kung Fu. I’m not too con­cerned about it. I am trying to remem­ber the form that I was just taught.

yikes…! zippp!

Ever look down and real­ize that your fly is undone and then wonder how long it’s been open? And if anyone else noticed?

I have a little lump on my fore­head from get­ting hit by a wooden sword last night at Kung Fu. We were prac­tic­ing a two man form and my part­ner was a little to far away. So when he brought his down­ward slash I wasn’t in the right posi­tion and missed my block. It’s times like this I’m really happy that I have bangs so I can cover up these little mishaps.

Tomor­row night I test for my Green Sash. Friday is the kodak.com picnic at the zoo. It’s going to be a busy week.

rollin’ rollin’ rollin’

I’m post­ing this from Ami­tyville. I’ve trav­eled down to Long Island for some vaca­tion and for a wed­ding. Along the way I’ve had the oppor­tu­nity to get in some mar­tial arts classes along the way. Like people attract like people and I’ve man­aged to, through prov­i­dence and luck, acquire numer­ous friends who study the arts. And so, with just seven days before my next rank­ing test, I get the chance to be inspired to greater heights by people who I love and respect. How cool is that!!!!!

I also had the great expe­ri­ence of being reunited with a friend I haven’t seen in 21 years! And amaz­ingly we picked up right where we left off. Which I feel so lucky for! Need­less to say (or observe from my abuse of the excla­ma­tion mark) I’m jazzed! Of course it could be the two espresso drinks that I had at the coffee shop while meet­ing said friend that might be respon­si­ble for that as well.

orange-​you-​glad

Well so much for stay­ing on sched­ule. I’ll be back to it soon I hope. I’ve still had more going on than I’ve been pre­pared for. But as far as today’s post title, last night I recer­ti­fied for my second rank (cur­rent level) in Kung Fu. For var­i­ous rea­sons, before you can test for a new level you must recer­tify for all of your pre­vi­ous levels. Pat, a fellow stu­dent, tested along side of me (this was his first second rank test).

The test was approx­i­mately three hours. It roughly dev­ided into an hour of self defense and spar­ring, an hour of tech­niques, and then an hour of form work and verbal ques­tion­ing. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked. The upside is that I know exactly where my weak points are. And since I’m test­ing in less than a month for my Third Level, that’s going to be really useful. Once I have achieved my third level, its just two more ranks and I’ll finally have my teach­ing certification.

While that’s still a long way off, it feels closer than ever before.