Green Stripe

Pants on the ground,

Pants on the ground,

Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground…

Yesterday, my second Saturday off in a row, I took my test for my green stripe in taekwondo.  And I was incredibly nervous.

Here’s the thing… I knew the stuff, and I knew I knew the stuff… but I had never ever had to do a form for a test before.  And I hand never ever had to spar during a test before.  And I was shaking at the thought of both.

So of the two, the form came first.  And I was incredibly disappointed with my performance.  For some reason I had difficulty keeping my balance, so even if I would have executed one of the blocks correctly, it would have been wobbly.

This of course meant that my confidence was not at prime as I took to the floor for my fight.  As luck would have it, however, my pants are only held on with a drawstring because the elastic is gone, and the drawsting was increasingly losening, so I was distracted enough with not letting my pants fall down to completely forget that my form sucked was not what I had hoped.

See the hands in that picture (I’m the red fighter)… bad fighting stance… good checking your pants stance.  Just sayin’.

So, in the end, the judges were gentle, my pants stayed on, and I got my green stripe.  Not a bad day. 🙂

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Great Plans

A four day weekend just past,and I had great plans for the opportunity to spend that time. Great plans. I was going to get reacquainted with my blog friends, perhaps put up a post or two. I was going to tidy my house, tidy the yard, and tackle the mountain of laundry. I was going to oversee the building of a popsicle stick bridge. I was going to do some work from home. I was going to exercise. And eat Easter candy.

I did manage to accomplish the last one.

I also managed to come to the conclusion that perhaps I am pulled in too many directions to do anything with any degree of thoroughness any more. I, the able task juggler, am beginning to see some balls precariously close to falling. I need more hands. I need more time. I need more Easter candy.

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During a taekwondo class last week, the instructor was a young black belt who sometimes takes his warm up content from his experience in basic training. You can fully expect to be breaking a sweat when he is the one leading the students through their initial paces. This particular evening, however, his logic was thus: “at some point you may have to fight exhausted… so we’re going to practice that.” So, warm-up was followed by tiring us out with LOTS of laps, push ups and sit ups. Then you had to fight for 2 minutes and then do more laps. Then he taught a technique, you practised it, fought for two minutes, and ran more laps. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It hurt to move for days afterward.

So now I am waiting for someone to come up with a new plan: “at some point you may win a lottery and live a life of leisure…. so we’re going to practice that.” Sign me up for that one.

Not the makeover I intended

Well my taekwondo class was tonight and I get supper prepared, putter around a bit, and finally decide it is time to dress for class.  And of course I can not find my uniform anywhere.  It’s usual spot was moved to put the Christmas tree up, so I search and search and search.  Nothing.  Zero.

Now, you may recall that my uniform was a hand-me-down from one of the black belts, and a gift I treasure very much.  It was also a bit too big for me.  So my makeover splurge money was spent on a piece of clothing that I will wear to sweat in.  Not the makeover look I was going for… But it is blindingy white and oooo so crip in its newness…  And it fits me.

I am now fighting the urge to cut my own hair.  Because a part of me knows that the element of my current look that most needs an overhaul is at the top of my head.

I wonder if a sharpie marker would work for a root touch up….

Pearls – a blog challenge

Tonight’s warmup in family taekwondo class was led by the instructor’s young (pre-teen) daughter, a black stripe (which is the belt before black).  Now typically, when her father does the warm up, it starts with general loosening up, then some more vigorous activities like laps &/or jumping &/or kicking, then there is a longer session of stretching once we’re all warm.  During the final stretching he usually discusses some aspect of stretching, tells some story about when he was training, or perhaps mentions some sport related thing coming up.

So tonight we go though the light stretch, do some laps and kicks and lunges, and we sit on the floor to begin the longer stretch portion.  The wife of our main intructor says to her daughter, “This is where you give us pearls of wisdom.” “Yes!” I add, “tell us a story.”

Our young leader paused.  “I don’t have any pearls of wisdom,” she stated, “because none of my grandparents are very old.”

This strikes me very funny… that wisdom can only be passed on from the elderly.  Now, that is not to say that we don’t have a huge amount to learn from our elders, because quite obviously we do, but I think wisdom can come from a great many places.  Of course, at the moment, I’m drawing a blank, but I’m sure it’s true.

So this week’s blog challenge, and I welcome you to join me, is to come up with 5 things you have learned from someone young (like a child or teenager).  If you post your response on your blog, drop me a comment and tell me where to look.

Not Much Of An Update

Well, I haven’t had much to say really, but I thought I’d provide a quick update on all the stuff I’ve been up to, not that it amounts to all that much…

Rainbow is on birthday count down.  Tonight she asked for a pony.  Though I’m pretty sure she knew the answer she’d get when she asked.

The girls had a taekwondo tournament this past weekend. I honestly think it takes me longer to recover from these things than it does them. It is positively painful to watch your child spar.  I realize it’s part of the sport, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.  And I usually feel like I want to run into the ring and push the other kid down for hurting my baby.  I’m pretty sure they have rules about that though.

I had a horrible job interview for a low level temp job with my previous employer (different department).  I hold no expectations that a positive outcome will occur. 

Last week my dryer was finally fixed.  Again.  And now it’s broken.  Again.

And that’s really all I’ve been up to.  I really need to get out more, I think.

Interview Attire

I was hemming the sleeves on the new dobok this morning and a genius idea came to me… I could wear the dobok to the job interview! Then I could walk in and explain that I was going to get a dobok when I got a job, and as they can plainly see I now have one, so therefore they must give me a job, so could they please show me to my new desk. And I would be memorable (which seems important on American Idol so it might be in job interviews). And also I kick butt. The idea was blinding in its sheer brilliance.

And then I realized I have no idea how to tie my own belt. So basically, rather than looking like a loser and explaining that my eight-year-old ties my belt for me and she is in school, I better go with plan B. A business suit. With a belt that buckles, not ties.

So now I’m going to have to dazzle them with something other than the cosmic alignment of obvious signs and rely on things like skills and such. Drat.

I Hope It’s a Sign

As readers all know, I regularly go to Family Taekwondo Night with my girls.  You might even remember that I got my first belt in December.  (We probably shouldn’t bother to mention that few, if any, ever fail the first test).  I’m still very proud of it.  Wednesday nights really are one of the highlights of my week.

Now, despite having a belt, I have never actually worn it to class as I do not have a dobok (uniform).  So, the belt sits on my dresser, and me and my little yoga pants and baggy t-shirts go to class.  My promise to myself was that when I finally get a job, I will buy myself a dobok.

Tomorrow I have a very important job interview.  An interview that has taken me almost eight months since application and two successful tests to get to.  My fingers are crossed, my wishes are wished, and my prayers continue.

Then tonight, a black belt approached me as the children started their lesson.  And, out of the blue, she offered me her dobok from before she was a black belt (black belts wear uniforms with black collars).  I almost cried at her kindness.  This garment, which she used for years to train for her current rank was freely passed on to me, on the eve of my interview (an interview that I could use a bit more confidence for).

While there may be no connection between the two events, I’m going to sleep tonight feeling very blessed.  Because, really, I am.