Fun Week recap

Beach class did not disappoint. I'll post pictures when i get them. My sister came and took over 400 pictures on her new fancy digital camera so there'll be plenty to post. Thursday night was the Projectile weapons seminar. Oh my god i need to get me a blowgun. Our guest instructor was a very nice man, 7th dan, and a couple of his students were also there to assist. He gave us a bit of backround on Ninjutsu, an overview on the weapons we'd be handling and of course safety. Then we all (about 40 students ) went outside to the parking lot where they had stations with targets set up. There were 2 stations for small star throwing, 2 for blowguns, one for archery, and one for large stars and knife throwing. It was a lot of fun-this is the 2nd year he has come to do this seminar. Hopefully he'll come again next year.
Friday was our inner school tournement. We have about 4 of these per year and a big interschool tournement once a year around St Patrick's day. I competed in kata and sparring. I was happy with my kata-i did Naihanchi Sandan and i did it well, and I did ok in sparring. My opponent is another BB candidate, 17 years old and about a foot taller than me. (and i'm pretty tall). She is excellent at everything she does-her legs are about 10 feet long and she knows how to use them. Needless to say, I couldn't get around her leg and i was eliminated in my first round. I have a lot to work on in sparring. I tend to lose focus. I think i try and concentrate so much on so many things that I lose my grip on everything and I'm all over the place. Not good.
So this morning its back to the track for 4 miles in the rain, then back to class for focus kick drills and probably kumite. My dojo has started a new mentoring program for candidates. each of us has a shodan or nidan as a mentor to kind of guide us through the testing cycle. Its a great program. I feel as though i am at an advantage as my son has been thru this cycle twice already so I know what to expect, but there are lots of students who go into this blindly and are shocked at all the work that is involved.
Monday is my written test. I need to write my paper this weekend. yuck.