More confidence, please!

I went to class Tuesday night. It's the first time in a while that I've been. I promised myself (and a couple of other people) that as soon as I nailed Pyung Ahn Oh Dan, I was going to go to class. I am very glad that I did. I was able to do the form and didn't feel like a total moron. Of course, I was just reminded to drop the negative self talk, so I'll have to work on that.

Class was great fun. We worked on techniques. Master G had us do jumping kicks and instructed us on the proper way to land so that we wouldn't damage our bodies. He explained that an improperly landed kick can and will do damage.
When we moved into the bigger room (we work in two rooms usually), we practiced our forms and then moved on into sparring. I normally do not like sparring. Never really have. I will work on that because it IS part of my training and it will be important.

I worked with Ms. S and Mr. L on the sparring. It was fun to work with someone different than ST or DB. In the first batch of sparring, it was a back and forth thing--she attacked, I defended, I attacked, she defended. In the second round, Mr. L attacked first and I defended for a few minutes. Then he switched it and I attacked while he defended. I spent entirely too much time thinking but I assume that will change over time. On the first round of sparring, Ms. S reminded me to hit twice--once as a diversion, once as the actual attack. If I, for example, throw a front snap kick, then I need to follow up with some sort of an attack to keep my opponent off guard. This will make it hard for them to recover and attack ME. Makes plenty of sense to me. I just have to remember not to go in blindly.

I will need to find my other hand before I attend another class. I'm going to assume that sparring is going to be a regular thing and I want to make sure I'm able to fight. I went in with both my feet and my left hand. My right hand was missing. I still haven't located it! I'm sure it's hiding in my closet somewhere.

Note: for anyone reading this who is NOT a martial arts practitioner, the 'hands' I'm referring to are my pads. You need them so that you don't get damaged when you're sparring with someone.

Today I spent two hours at the orthodontist's office with Amanda. She got her bottom braces put on today. I still don't know why it took so long to get us in there to look at her, but...it's finally done! She missed third and fourth periods. I have to email her teacher to find out what the homework was for Math. Band, I'm sure she'll make up. I'll have to email both teachers to follow up.


I'm exhausted today too...I didn't sleep very well last night. I don't know if it was because I took a Claritin or what, but I am just wiped out. I got up at 4:00 am and haven't been back to sleep since. I may have to go take a nap in a few. I have a meeting at 7:00 tonight which I need to be awake for!!

Wednesday

I love the rain. I absolutely adore it. When I was younger, I don't think I appreciated it nearly as much as I do now. There's just something soothing about watching the rain fall. It's that kind of a day today. I want to be at home, watching the rain fall and enjoying the cooler weather. It's all courtesy of an upper level low system that pushed into Texas from Canada by way of Colorado. Soothing. Very nice. There's something to be said for the quality of sleep I get when it's raining. I think I relax more.

Last night was the "Husky Roundup" at the oldest child's school. We got her schedule and met the teachers. Should be a most interesting year. She's got US History this year, along with "Skills for Living" (a useful class and one I'm glad she got!), plus of course, Math, Honors Band (YES!), Pre A/P English (again!! YAY!!), Science and Intro to Business Applications this semester. This will be a very good year and we'll have to work very hard to make sure she's applying herself to doing well.

While we were there, I saw one of the teenagers from the old martial arts school. I was very happy to see her and gave her a big hug. She was surprised to see me for sure. She probably doesn't know the reasons I'm not there anymore. I am not badmouthing the old place if I can help it. I'm a firm believer in Karma--what you say/do will come back to you three times over.

I know I've mentioned things to several people, but I haven't really gone into details. They know that I felt like I wasn't worth much as a black belt...and they know that I felt like I wasn't getting a lot of support from that one person. Not everyone was like him. DB, who is my dearest friend always was able to help me and wasn't grouchy about it. I got a LOT of help from him. He helped me perfect, or at least, make better, Pyung Ahn Ee Dan. Of course, right now, I wouldn't be able to do it correctly because I haven't practiced. If you were to personify a person with good people skills, you'd have a picture of DB there.

I told one of my co-workers today, after a technician asked for ME, that he was only asking for me because I'm "nice". Then we decided that it was because the guy couldn't figure out the alphabet. M comes after A, technically speaking. However, my last name begins with an N. The other guy's last name starts with V. Go figure. However it's calculated, I got this tech and was able to help him. PLUS, it was handled in a timely fashion, which makes the boss extremely happy. The tech was supposed to be in and out in an hour. We made it just under the wire. WHEW!!

I'm taking tomorrow off. Oldest child is going to the orthodontist to get something done with her mouth. This has to do with the thing they put into her mouth to keep her teeth from shifting. She's missing an adult tooth--something she got from her mother. There was a baby tooth there but no adult tooth underneath it. They pulled the baby tooth last year and put in a spacer to keep the remaining teeth from shifting over and causing problems with her braces. She's on her third spacer because the first one was stripped (it's like a little screw). The second one had gum grow over it--she's got an awesome immune system that took over. It looks like number 3 is doing the same thing. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I looked at it the other day. Poor kid is not going to get the lower braces, I don't think. I need to leave that determination to the dentist. I just have a feeling though...