the Black Belt Spectacular

Just a brief word about my graduation. Although I had to do everything with a big honkin cast on my arm, I had a blast. We were all ready for this night. We had to be at the gym at 2pm that day (the show wasn't going on until 7) but we all were there either practicing or helping to set up or keeping the little kids in check so they wouldn't annoy Renshi. They were WIRED. and i don't blame them. It was a long, tough testing cycle and that night we finally got our black belts. I got so many flowers. All the girls did. Apparantly, it is tradition for the women who are already black belts to give the women and girls who are promoting to shodan flowers. I did not know this. I was inundated with flowers. I also got some from my cousin and my friends-Beth, Michelle and Sheila who came to see me graduate. These are some of my closest friends from high school, jr high and grade school. I've known beth the longest-we go back to the first grade. It was so cool of them to come. My sister came and took many many pictures-(which I will post some of when I get them formatted correctly) My parents came, so did my husband and daughter. My son was with me all day- He is on the STORM team (student team of role models) and was there also to help set up. He also got his certificate for Nidan which he graduated to last May. There is a 6 month probation period before you get your certificate. So at the next Black belt spectacular (next may) I will get my shodan certificate-they are really nice beautiful framed certificates.
One thing went wrong. (thankfully it was not involving me). While we were practicing, and trying to keep the little kids focused, B (an adult-a lawyer- getting his shodan) made it a point to say that what the audience remembers most will be the very beginning and the finale so make it look sharp. we kept drilling this into these kids to keep them on track. So what happens? In our intro- where they announce us individually, we run out from behind the curtain-spotlight on us-do something cool (i did a jumpfront kick) then take our place on the mats-one knee position- for our first group demo. So all the kids go first, then me, then B. B. wipes. out. ON HIS INTRODUCTION!! After he drills it into the kids that the audience always remembers the very beginning and the very end....and I couldn't laugh. Thats very hard for me- usually, someone falls down and I'm in hysterics (even when I fall down I laugh uncontrollably!) But I had to just face forward and bite my lip and get thru the rest of the night. Several days later it hit me and I had a good laugh by myself. I'm so glad it wasn't me. SO GLAD!

I'll post pictures soon!! I'm having computer troubles at the moment.

tonite

today is my last day as a 1st kyu. tonite I will get my beautiful blue gi with my name embroidered on the back and my cool new belt-also with my name embroidered on it along with the kanji of our style of karate . all the demos i will be in will be one-armed. despite the fact that I now have a removable splint on my arm, i will have to wear it because my arm is too weak without it. oh well, nothing i can do about it at this point. I came close to not doing an individual demo, when i broke my arm i was having such a hard time trying to come up with something new. so they suggested I just do a kata that I know to music. cool. that works for me. so I'm doing kusanku sho which I had to learn to pass my pretest earlier this summer. one armed kusanku sho. eh, whatever. I hope I don't break anything when I go for my Nidan.
I'll post some pictures-and I'll be changing my blog template as well. No more 8am track on saturdays, no more practices, no more teaching...i am SO looking forward to getting back on a normal karate schedule.

warning- self pity below

we had another practice friday night for our graduation. my group of co-candidates gave me a great get well soon card. so cool of them. big apologies from the 16 yr old arm breaker.

our demos are coming along nicely-although its hard w/o my rt arm. the 3 adults moving to 1st dan are doing chinto as a group for one of the demos. for any of you who know this kata-try it w/your rt arm immobilized. NOT PRETTY.

not much else to say- i'm kind of still feeling sorry for myself, but i go to class and sit and watch and see my friends and thats good. i couldnt even get around in february when my foot got crushed and its a lot less painful too. so i guess i'm a luck girl...NOT. i have a black cast from my wrist to my shoulder-(black to match my soon to be black belt and the cloud over my head:) in 2 weeks i get this one off, some more x rays done , and hopefully they will only have to put on a short/forearm cast. and then 5 days after that is the "black belt spectacular". it is held at a local high school in the gym. i just can't wait till its done and the pressure is off.

self control

i'm gonna keep this short because i'm typing with my left hand. my arm was broken last night by a student with no self control. i wasn't more than 5-10 minutes into sparring when i was kicked full force in my arm. (and it wasn't even a good technique) so i yelled an obsenity in front of small children and left the floor. we put ice on it, but i eventually was taken to the hospital and x ray'd. i am now splinted from wrist to shoulder and i will have to get a cast put on next week. my ulna is broken. the er doc who also is a fellow karate student told me it is called a nightstick fracture. this is so unfair. i passed my test at least- renshi says its an automatic pass if you end up at the hospital.

my sparring partner-who is 15 yrs was taught a lesson about self control after that. he's gotta be hurting today because he was SCHOOLED last night. heh heh heh..

A poem from my sister

I'm wishing lots of luck tonight
When you go to your big class.
I know you'll do your kata well
And really kick some ass.
You've worked so hard
You've come so far
You're a tough and feisty lass
So tie your belt
And yell KIAI -
I know that you will pass.


heehee

I guess I AM a little stressed...

I had a nightmare about my practical test. I couldn't get to my dojo. I had the wrong socks for the run (one of them was a knee sock). my nose was stuffy and I had no decongestant. it was 8 o'clock and I was an hour late. It was halloween-there were freaks everywhere. (like people with no legs and oddly shaped heads falling onto my porch-kind of like a zombie movie) There were people trying to get into my house (which wasn't my real house). they were all getting in my way. i was getting more and more upset. I was trying to call my husband for a ride, my cell phone was not working, he didn't really care-didn't think it was a big deal that I was an hour late. I also couldn't find my script. (???) so Sheila copied hers for me but i knew none of my lines. what?? WAKE UP!!

Now- it is not abnormal for me to have dreams about being late for karate class-I have them all the time, but this is ridiculous. I'm already exhausted and its only 6:30am.

the clock is ticking

We had our first official candidate practice last night. One of the sensei's who is helping to organize the graduation ceremony/show got us all together to kind of give us an idea how it will all happen in October. Our school puts on a big show the night the candidates receive their black belts-lots of demos by the demo team, storm team and candidates. Its really an awesome show. So we started going over the demos we would be working on as a group and also broken down into smaller groups. It was fun-they don't make the demos too complicated because first of all, we have enough to memorize (including our own individual musical demos) and most importantly, they want us to look good and synchronized. We also got a bit of a pep talk, some advise on the practical test- the phrase of the night will be YES SIR!! regardless of what your brain wants to say! Because if Renshi sees anyone rolling their eyes, complaining or doing anything that might mean you are displeased with the test he will be merciless! You must have a positive attitude and for gods sake NO CRYING! I really hope no one cries...there are 3 really little kids who are also testing and if they cry I have to supress my motherly instincts to comfort them. (or maybe they'll have to comfort me..)
I have to know a lot of material by then, (next friday). first- all my kata (about 17) 3 bunkai kata and application in a han (naihanchi shodan, pinan shodan, and pinan yondan oyo bunkai) and the first 10 kumite. (short pre-arranged sparring drills). I also have to have my musical demo pretty much choreographed (although it doesn't have to be perfect until October). And we have to have our 1st aid/CPR cards by then, too. We will also have to do a 3-4 mile run and then spar for a good 1-1 1/2 hrs. The exam is from 7pm until midnight and we WILL have to be at the track at 8am the next morning for our run. Why? because we are tough karate people dammit...I LOVE KARATE! (wimper)

Wednesday night sparring

We had sparring wednesday night. Since the weather is sooooo nice right now, Renshi is not putting on the AC in the dojo, only opening the windows and the back door for ventilation. So basically its like a sauna. Especially with sparring gear on. It was a huge class-we partnered up and first did slow motion sparring to warm up. Then we worked on some defense drills-one of them being for a roundhouse kick. The defense was to check the kick with the forearm and shuffle in and reverse punch to the body. We did this over and over. It hurts the shins after a while even with shin guards on. Then we started sparring-we would do 1 minute rounds then get a new partner and go again. i was sparring for a while with my friend Michelle who got me really good in my shin (which was already killing me) with her elbow- not intentionally of course..these things happen but it totally paralyzed me for a minute it hurt so much. (It also didn't help that everyone was so sweaty that are sparring gear kept sliding around. ) So after I "recovered" from that we kept sparring, then we'd find new partners, keep sparring etc for about 40 minutes. So finally Renshi says last match-I partner up with a 2nd degree bb, we bow, shake hands, get into guard stance and something catches my eye..I look down at my hand and there is blood dripping off my fingers! So I bow out of that match and we leave the dojo floor (which apparently I bled all over) and get the first aid kit. I had split my knuckles open on the index and middle finger of my right hand. Not too badly -i didn't need more than a couple bandages, but they bleed a lot! Then i look over and my last sparring partner was coming towards me and her toe was bleeding too. I have no idea how it happened-she says she remembers the contact between us and thought "hmm that felt funny" I didn't feel it, though. Then someone points to my pants..all bloodied up. Great. So after that I go into the womens changing room to wash the blood off my hand guard and there is another woman -a blue belt and new to sparring- who is sitting down, pale as a ghost, who came close to passing out and/or throwing up. I felt bad for her. That gear is really hard to get used to. Not breathable at all and you basically cook inside it. So by then it was time to bow out of class- Renshi asked the injured and sick if we were ok- I said "I'm fine-i didn't lose any digits..hahaha" and he smiled and said to us that it was a pretty good class- only 2 bleeders and a near pass-out-he's a funny, funny man.

sick

That physical test kicked my ass. I had been fighting off some sort of virus all last week and it finally caught up with me. It was bad enough that every single muscle and bone in my body was sore from Saturday, but then i developed chills and a fever and swollen glands. i don't think my immune system could fight it off any longer. So I was in bed most of the day sunday, all day monday and half of tuesday. I'm finally free from the fever but now its all settled in my sinuses. blah. I couldn't even go to karate monday and it was my teaching day too. :(
I'm definitely going tonite.

2 down, 1 to go

I passed my physical test. I am SO glad that it is overwith. especially the run. My time was 27.52 for 3 miles-almost 1 minute off last weeks time. (and Renshi passed me even though i didn't make 24minutes) I did my 50 pushups without any struggling. When we do the pushups, its with a partner who counts for you and who also has to put their fist on the ground in front of you so that your chin touches it each count. Then we had to show our splits- full splits and front splits, then we lined up on the field and did a ton of crunches-more than 200 I'm pretty sure. After that it was sprinting-we did about 8 sprints of various distances, then we went back to the grass for more endurance testing. 1st- wheelbarrows- halfway across the short side of the field, then switch and come back- there is a trick to wheelbarrows -grab the knees, not the feet-its so much easier. Then we had to turn around and do army crawls one way and crab walks back, then turned around again to do flying sidekicks (huh?? never did one of those before yesterday- i'm sure it was pretty amusing to watch too) and stupid forward rolls back. I closed my eyes this time when i did my rolls-so much better on the equalibrium when you don't see the sky while you're rolling. After that was done, we lined up- Renshi told us that we all passed (he doesn't usually do that on the same day because usually someone fails it) Now I have the next test to get ready for. The practical test is next month. I have a lot of material to work on. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes and support!

2PM-Physical Test

Today is my physical test. I can't wait till this is over. I wish it was in the morning. I seriously doubt I will run 3 miles in 24 minutes. Even with the adrenalin rush that will supposedly make me fly around the track. We'll see. I will do my best regardless. I can say, though, that I have successfully done 50 push ups (in a row) 3 times this week. So I'm pretty confident I can do it today too. I"m not worried about the 200 crunches. I believe we have to show our full splits too. HA HA HA mine is more like a roof top, but whatever, we're not graded on those.

Well after today, I can focus more on working on my katas-particularly Chinto, Pinan Yondan Oyo Bunkai kata, my musical demo and whatever kata they will be teaching us to do for our group demo at the promotion in late Oct/early November.
We still have to run every week and endure different forms of torture at the track.

can someone take my test for me? please?

Why? because its FUN!

We had such a fun time at the track yesterday. (yes, i'm being sarcastic) We had our usual 4 mile run -good news is that for 3 miles, I'm down to 28.50 minutes. Bad news is that i have 1 week to shave 4 minutes and 50 seconds off my time. (??)
After our run, we had endurance training (aka torture) 1st, commando crawls across the freshly cut grass of the football field (not the length, the width which is FAR ENOUGH) then coming back we had to do squat front kicks. THEN..we had to turn around again and duck walk across and FORWARD ROLL half the way back. Adults have NO BUSINESS doing forward rolls. Especially the ones who get motion sick just watching the washing machine on a spin cycle. The first roll i felt like I was gonna hurl. they only got worse after that. Of course, the secret to doing these is to dive roll with a few steps in between rolls. I think I did 5 or 6 total, although I was told my last one looked more like an eggroll-hahaha but was acceptable. We were all covered in grass by the time we were done. Then we had to do our 50 pushups and 100 crunches and go back to the dojo for an hour of focus kicking drills.
I have grass burns on my elbows and knees.

monday class

Last nights class was fun- not the usual kind of sweaty hard core kick your ass kind of fun that it usually is, we did a lot of moving basics (with a partner) with different counter attacks at the end of each drill, and then we learned "empi waza" (empi=elbow) We don't do a lot of waza in our classes so it was a nice learning experience. Renshi then had us try and figure out ways to apply all these elbow smashes on our partner. Pretty cool. Then he had us all sing happy birthday to a couple of students (twins) who are turning 18 today. They have been taking classes since they were tiny and now they both teach. Awesome kids. then we had cake! yummmmmm.
After class a bunch of us worked on Pinan Yondan Oyo Bunkai. I really need to work on my take downs. Before I messed my foot up I didn't have a problem, but now I have trouble with squatting down low enough because of my weak knee and ankle, and keeping my back straight. My knee has buckled in a couple times too. aaarrrrrrhhhhgggg. By the end I did manage a successful takedown. I just need to stop rushing it and remember my basics.
Tomorrow we're having a special class on knife and gun self defense. This should be fun.. No kids allowed in this class, though-no matter what rank they are.

I'm not worthy!!!!!

2 weeks until my physical test. My running has gotten progressively better, yesterday I was timed at 29.20 for 3 miles. And I think that a lot of that had to do with the air being really dry and cool. I have 5 minutes and 20 seconds to shave off in 2 weeks. I don't think its physically possible, but I'll keep plugging along. I'm starting to realize that I have SO MUCH TO LEARN to get this belt. I'm learning Chinto- I think i have that mostly down so I can at least practice it thru without going blank. I also have to know Pinan Yondan Oyo Bunkai kata as the kata and in the Han(the group application of the kata). Uh...HUH?? I know some of it, but i have a long way to go before I "know" it. I also need to know Naihanchi Shodan Oyo bunkai kata and Pinan Shodan Oyo bunkai kata- which i do. thankfully. And... I also have to know kumite 1-10. These are short controlled "sparring" matches. I'm good up to about 7, but the rest need a lot of work. I also have to create my demo to music and be first aid/cpr certified by the end of september for our practical test- a 5 hour test from hell where we run 3 miles, then spar for a while-we have to spar the upper ranked black belts-like Renshi, and some other Sensei's. People have come out of this with broken noses, ribs, black eyes...and then after that, we have to show all our required material (like i mentioned above) This test is from 7pm to midnight on a friday night. I believe we will have to run the next morning at the track as well.
Yikes.

something that really makes me happy....

Being right after all. After 4 people of higher rank and one of equal rank but younger age told me it was a closed hand , the highest ranking of our dojo/owner/Renshi/6th dan told me that I'M RIGHT!
HA! Now I'm not normally this way when it comes to being right about something. But I KNEW this kata. This open hand move was DRILLED into my head by my instructor (who unfortunately isn't teaching there anymore-but he was also a "renshi") He taught me this kata and was very particular on the details. So the thought of being wrong about that was not sitting well with me. It was knawing at me ALL WEEK!

AND....I passed my written test!

Something that really annoys me

I hate when i've been working a kata for a long time, and then another student tells me that one of the moves is wrong. And then-gets one of the sensei's (granted-a young, new nidan sensei) to agree with her. This move is in Matsumura Passai (or Passai Dai) and i SWEAR it is an open hand supported block (that comes after a crescent kick and before 2 closed handed strikes that look like swimming moves). This other student (who happens to be a very nice, talented girl with looooong legs who beat me in sparring at the tournement) says its a closed handed supported block. I still don't buy it. I'm going to the top with this one and I hope to god that I'm right.
I know this happens a lot and I've been warned in the past that you can be taught different subtleties by different Sensei...BUT I WAS TAUGHT THIS KATA BY A GODAN. I'm going to continue to do it the way i was taught until my Renshi (a 6th degree) tells me otherwise.
I know. I'm ranting. maybe it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things BUT IT DOES TO ME!
sorry. didn't mean to yell.

saturday training

So yesterday it was 8am at the track as usual. It wasn't as humid as its been but it was still very hot. We ran 4 miles, then we had to do an extra half mile (2 laps) but this time, sprinting the straight parts and lightly jogging the turns. I almost threw up. I almost had to go over to the fence and hurl. I came as close as clamping my hand over my mouth. But I didn't-thankfully. After that, we had to duck walk from one goal post to the other. A duck walk is when you squat down as far as you can go and then walk in that position. After that, we did our pushups and crunches, then went back to the dojo for our focus kick drills. Then I went home for about an our and a half to shower and eat, then back to the dojo for class at noon and weapons right after. But THEN...my kids and I went to Beth's house for the rest of the afternoon..actually, we went to Beth's pool/tiki bar and resort. It was sooooo nice. except when i was getting into the pool at one point and I whacked my ass on the concrete while going down the steps. I don't know how i did that but i have a painful bruise now and it hurts when I sit down. Besides that- it was just the therapy i needed.

HHH

We had a group run on thursday at 5 and it was freakin' hot. For the first time during this cycle i had to walk the last half mile (out of 4) because there was NO MORE AIR. It was like breathing in steam. AND after I got home- which was around 5:45ish, i took a shower, but then continued to actively sweat until around 8pm. Can someone explain this to me? Where was it coming from?
I have to be at the track this morning at 8 am for another 4 miles, then candidate class, then a short break (enough time to go home, take a shower and do laundry) then all level class at noon, and weapons at 12:45.
Last Wednesday I started to learn Chinto. I love learning new kata and this one is really really cool. It is so different from the others. I also learned the 3rd bo kata that we do (taiso rensu gogeki---i think i spelled that right..) which is the opposing kata to taiso rensu uke (the first bo kata we do). I think i need to know the first 5 bo kata before I can move on to small weapons. Unfortunatly the 1st small weapon i will have to learn is nunchucks. Then I can start with Kama, then Sai. I wish I could start with those first, but I can't. I have to do it in order.
I also need to start working on my demo soon. We each have to perform a demo to music at our graduation ceremony(in Oct). We have to have this all set to show Renshi at the practical exam (which is a 5-6 hour test) in September. This is my least favorite part of this whole thing. Getting up in front of a whole gymnasium full of people and performing to music is just yucky. Granted, it only has to be about 45 seconds long, but if feels endless. I've had practice- we have to do a musical demo when we promote to solid green and again when we promote to solid brown as practice for the black belt demo. Its just mortifying.

1st exam

My written test went well. I think. We were given a packet of information, lineage, names, definitions etc to study from last month when we took our pretest and were told to know everything in that packet because it would all be on the test. They were not lying. I'm glad I had been studying since the winter when my son was testing for Nidan. The worst part of this test for me was the essay. I really am NOT a writer. I actually hate writing papers, so handing that in at the beginning of the test felt quite nice. (it was on Itosu) So now I need to focus on my running time, my pushups and crunches. Last saturday at the track I was again at 11 minute miles. How do I speed this running thing up? Maybe they could rig up something like they have at the dog tracks -like the bunny on a stick- for me to chase... like... maybe....a donut? A chocolate croissant?