Busy, busy

I am here but have been sidelined by the goings on at the house. Number one daughter started Band on Monday. Every day has been a lot of fun. I had a parents' meeting on Tuesday at 7:00...I didn't leave the school until 8:30. There was just a LOT of information to be gleaned from the director of the bands. I'm thinking this year is going to be just jam packed, what with Band and Cub Scouts. Somewhere in that time frame, I am going to HAVE to take time for me and do my martial arts. I prefer to have my time to train. I'm going to make Dan Training on Saturday before we go to Escadrille Registration. I WILL NOT miss that! I have already missed two classes this week. I'm supposed to take Ms. A to the cafeteria on Tuesday at 7:00. Can I sneak in a class on Tuesday? I'm not sure. I have to figure that out. My class is 7:45-9:00. I want to hang out with MY friends too!!
(yes, that's a whine there!)

I haven't even gotten a schedule for Cub Scouts yet, but I'm going to have to get my assistant Den Leader to attend some of the Pack meetings so that I don't have to keep missing karate. I need the stability and the structure of the karate. It's become so much a part of who I am that I feel very...OFF if I don't get to go to class. I'm going to class tonight after Cub Scouts. I won't be in uniform, but I will be there! Might learn SOMETHING! It definitely does wonders for my mental state!

I have an idea for an essay that I've been fumbling with. I need to find someone who would not mind proofing it for me. I have a whole bunch of things in my head but need to put it to some format. I think the subject is going to be an interesting one. I have had it in my mind for a while, so I think it's going to happen soon. Just as soon as I find the time...

Do I need my head examined?

It's August 2nd. That means that tomorrow is August 3, the first day of BAND MOM for me! I get to be a band mom for the next three years (or more if number one son decides to get into band). Tomorrow, Miss A is starting "Fish Camp". That means that she's now a Freshman in high school. I can't believe it. She's in high school now!! I'm excited for her. I'm actually excited for me too, because I will be going to some of the football games at school. I have never been to a single high school football game in my life. I'll be making up for it this year.

This week will be jam packed with stuff. We have the start of camp, a Freshman Parent meeting on Tuesday, nothing Wednesday that I know of, Thursday is Roundtable (Scouts) AND karate, Friday is nothing and then Saturday, I have Dan Training AND Band Registration. Then next week, there's a lot going on...I think I'm free for karate on Tuesday, but there's something Thursday. I have to take Miss A to get her school schedule on Thursday the 13th too. I'm wishing I was an atom at this point...I need to be able to break off into multiple little particles!!

The entire month is going to be crazy. Click here for the band calendar and you'll see what I mean!

Sunday, August 2

I must have mis-timed myself yesterday. I went out and walked the track at the high school again today. Today's time was 19 minutes, 21 seconds. I didn't take my son with me today, so that might have something to do with it. I also worked on my breathing. I walked most of that first lap fairly slowly, but then started walking faster by the last end of the track. My husband was with me and all I heard was "goodbye" as I pulled away from him. I wasn't out to race him, I was out to walk. I didn't have my MP3 player with me, so I wasn't regulating my steps to music. I was just out to walk. I did work on my breathing. I tried to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth as I was walking. It seemed to be the thing to do. That is something I can do on a regular basis. You THINK you know how to breathe, but sometimes it turns out, you don't really know.

Anyway, I feel successful, so I'll be working on maintaining this time at the recommendation of a couple of friends. As long as I hold this pace for the next few weeks, I'll be in good shape. I can then strive to decrease the time by a minute or two. By the end of the month, I should be walking a mile in 17 minutes. By the end of September, I can aim for 15 minutes and by the end of October, I can aim for 13 minutes. My goal will be to strengthen myself to the point where I'm shaving off a few minutes every two weeks. I think it's a reachable goal.

Run number 1

I did my first run today. I didn't do so well, as I had at least expected to run the mile in in 15 minutes. Instead, I ran it in 25 minutes. Oh well. I'm disgusted with myself, but it gives me something to work toward. I WILL get my time down!!
I spent the first lap just walking. Laps 2-4, I walked and ran. I ran the straightaways and walked the ends. I noticed that I was huffing and puffing a LOT when I finished running, so I figure that I've got a lot of work to do in that regard. I know I'm not breathing right. I've got to work on breathing from my diaphragm, not from my upper chest. I know it sounds goofy, but another running friend told me that I need to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. You'd think that after 44 years, I'd know how to breathe, but that's not the case when it comes to running! I will work on that.

I need to work on stretches that will help me not be stiff and sore afterwards. I have experienced pain in the back of my right ankle in the past and I don't want to have it continue, so that is a point of research today.

Fitness obsession...

I haven't worked out this week, other than a martial arts class on Tuesday. I missed last night because I wasn't feeling well. I'm actually a bit bummed that I didn't make it. I feel better when I work out!
I can tell I haven't done anything because I don't feel as "sharp". I'm a bit more tired and am dragging. It's amazing how well your body responds to physical activity!

I'm taking my son to the track tomorrow morning. We're going to start working on running together. Both of us have to run a mile. It's great about being "old"...I have the same requirement as him!! While I'm not looking forward to the run, I AM looking forward to the activity first thing. I have missed it this week!

I let a friend borrow my Wii Fit, balance board and EA Sports Active, so I haven't been doing them this week. I'll get them tonight and will start back in on them tomorrow or Sunday. Probably tomorrow, AFTER I run. I have no excuses. One of my co-workers told me that for weight loss, running was probably the best thing I could do for myself. He recommended that I start running first and *then* start doing pushups. I don't quite agree with that...but I know I have to work on my core and get it strong enough to support my weight. Part of that will happen from doing crunches, the other part will come from improving my overall fitness.

I guess I need to restart my fitness goals. It's the beginning of a new month, a new 30 day Challenge to address. It's going to be a fun month!!

Training accountability

Last night, I talked to one of my instructors and asked her to help me start running and training myself to get into better shape and get ready for the possibility of testing in the future. She's in school full time and probably won't have that much time, but she suggested something really good to help motivate me. She suggested that I start posting my workouts on my blog. I'll be putting it over at my training blog (Martialartsmusings). That way, I'll have public accountability for what I'm doing.

I can do pretty much everything they ask of me in class, although in my eyes, it's not quite up to the standards I think it needs to be at. I need to step up further and do more. For example--last night, Ms. M had the kids in her Beginner's class do Roman Chairs. You put your back against the wall and slide down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Then you HOLD it for a period of time. Ms. M is super athletic and had no problems with it. I did it with the kids as I was waiting for their class to end. I could NOT go down until my thighs were parallel to the floor. A green belt pointed that out to me. I started to go down and felt a "ping!" in my right knee, so I stopped. Of course, I need to either get that "ping" looked at or work through it. What I should have done last night was to work through it. That would have been better than just doing that halfway. I have work to do to get to that point again. I WILL do it.

I sent an email to the Masters last night (and copied in a couple of people I know can also push me), asking them to please help me stay accountable for my work outs. I have a certain number of pushups and crunches that I have to do, plus I have to run a mile in ten minutes. I'm going to start working the mile aspect because I'm afraid that my years of inactivity have caught up to me. I'm severely a couch potato. I'm not afraid to do most things, but I've never seen myself as a runner. Time to break out of that mold.

If you are a reader here and you want to go over to Martialartsmusings and give a nudge or a push there as well, please feel free. There's a link in my sidebar under Martial arts blogs. If not, please nudge me here. At this point, I'm taking all the help I can get.

Honest Blog

I was tagged/awarded by Claus to list 10 honest things about me. This is a bit of a challenge, but I'm going to have fun with it. Sooo...here goes:

1. I love the rain. I like to listen to it falling outside. It's relaxing and soothing.
   


2. I don't have an artistic bone in my body, unless it's an ability to write.
   


3. I'm afraid of falling down. You'd think that with my karate training, I wouldn't be so afraid, but I am.
   


4. I am not a natural athlete. I have just recently reversed my apathy toward working out and am enjoying it more and more.
   


5. My favorite thing to do on the weekend is to sit on the couch with a cup of coffee and enjoy the sunrise. I prefer to be alone durin gthis time.
   


6. I have never been across either of the borders of the United States. I used to live in Washington state, but never made it across the border to Canada. Never made it to Mexico either.
   


7. I'm afraid of bridges.
   


8. I am a book hoarder. My apartment is packed with bookshelves and books.
   


9. I envy my daughter her talent for art and music. I wish I was able to draw like she does and I'd dearly LOVE to have a scrap of musical talent to lay claim to.


10. I have a tendency to be hyper critical of myself. I'm working on trying to fix that, but it's hard to break a habit of so many years.
    

Five people are supposed to play along. I'm not sure I know of five people who aren't on other lists who might want to do this. I would duplicate people from Claus' list: Vessie, I Pity the Rhino, Gal Friday, and Cessie, but I'll have to add in Go West as well. No pressure though. If you don't wish to list your unknown facts - if you still have any - don't even sweat it. Just grab the award.

Putting a plan into motion

I think I've decided to run myself through another 30 day challenge using the Wii Active. I enjoyed that and *I* see results, even if my husband does not! 99.9% of your success is mental anyway, or so I think, sooo...that's my plan. It feels really good to workout in the mornings before work anyway!!

I talked to my instructor on Saturday for a brief moment. At some point or another, we are going to get together and choose a weapon for me to start training with. In case you're interested in it, go here and read "Choosing your Weapon".

I'm currently listening to the whispers of the men on the other side of the wall from me. I'm at work earlier than normal. I can't stand being late, so I generally get to work on Mondays at least 30 minutes early. It gives me time to get my first (and possibly second!) cup of coffee, have breakfast and read my mail.
Plus I can pull myself together and get organized--as organized as I can be--before the calls start rolling in. The only downfall is, people know I'm in my cube and come over to ask me LOADS of questions!

I was tagged by a friend to do an honest blog, and I will do that in a bit. For now, I'm about to go get myself another cup of coffee, find an address and mail a card for the little man. He wrote a thank you card to a friend, plus he wrote her a letter too, and I promised to mail it for him. It'll go out today and arrive...well, we don't know when it'll arrive. Hopefully she'll enjoy receiving it!

30 Day Challenge completed!!

My first 30 Day Challenge on the Wii Active by EA Sports is over as of this morning. There were 20 workouts in the challenge. I did all 20 of them. I enjoyed the challenge. I actually changed up my intensity about halfway through. I changed it from the easy intensity to the medium intensity. I will go ahead and go foward with the next 30 Day Challenge and do it on the medium to hard intensity setting. Of course, I've also made my own workouts and will work on those as well. I'm going to give myself tomorrow off as it would be a normal rest day anyway. I'll start again on Tuesday morning.

I've gotten into a routine. I think I've posted before that it takes 21 days of repetition to make a habit. I love the fact that my habit is one that breaks my 'couch potato' habit. I like the feeling of empowerment I'm feeling by taking control of my life. I've given myself the permission to workout, to feel good. It's wonderful!!

Yesterday was Open Training at the dojang. I got a chance to work on falling. I'm not the best person for falling, but I worked with Ms. S. She's a great teacher for the falls. I did back falls slowly--you have to work up to the confidence to fall better. We also worked on front falls from a kneeling position. I'm glad we did that because I'd be worried about falling from a standing position (for now). I have to work on falls though because going forward, I have Ho Sin Sul and One Steps that require falls. There is one One Step (#18) that requires the defender to fall and execute a side kick to the attacker's groin/inner thigh. I need to work on that one. The fall first, not the kick!! That'll come over time.

Not my normal Saturday routine

This morning I started my workouts earlier than normal for a Saturday. I got up at 5:30 and knocked out two workouts--the 30 day challenge workout and one of my own devising. I'm a bit tired, but feel like it's worth it. I actually got a chance to sit here without anyone else up for an hour and a few after the workouts, so that's a plus. I rather like being able to sit quietly and not have to worry about what time any certain cartoon is on or whatever. Currently Mr. A is watching some weird cartoon on television. It's a huge change from when I was a kid. Then, Bugs Bunny was the thing to catch on Saturday morning.

I have to talk about Mr. A for a minute too. On Thursday, he and Ms. M had a talk about his progress. They reviewed his progress sheet and she set a couple of goals for him to achieve this next week--like not talking out of turn during class. If he makes that goal by Thursday, then he will move up from the Beginner class to the Advanced Beginner class. I have warned him that the instructor of the AB class is not going to take any nonsense off him as she's a teacher outside of the school too. That will make him settle in and concentrate a little bit, I hope!!

He sat through my class on Thursday fairly well. For a while, I know he was playing with my cell phone, then he put it into my bag and just watched as we ran through our One Steps and Ho Sin Sul. Then he watched as we moved into the other room and worked on our Bunkai. That was a refreshing thing! He was complimented and told that people forgot that he was in there because he was so quiet. I was very proud of him. I told him that too.

We have Open Training today at 11:30. I'm taking Mr. A with me because he can work on his form and on techniques. I'm going to work with my friend, K, on forms, One Steps and Ho Sin Sul. She'll be testing at our next test and I want to help her brush up. Plus, it helps me out because I can brush up on the White through Green belt one steps too. I also have to concentrate on learning the Red Belt one steps, so that's on my list to practice too.

Movies and letter writing

We went and saw Harry Potter today. It was the first movie I have actually gone to a theater to see since Ratatouiile came out years ago. Needless to say, I was thoroughly impressed by the movie. Did it follow the book? No, not 100%, but since I've read the books, I do understand the parts that were skipped and the parts that were combined. I'm looking forward to the next two. They're making Deathly Hallows into two movies, one to come out in November of 2010 and one to come out in July of 2011.

My son is going to sit down and write his first letter on the computer tonight. He has to write a thank you letter to a friend who has helped him out with information on conservation. He *has* to write the letter and it must be 1. Legible, hence the writing on the computer; and 2. It must make sense and not reference video games (which he would do if he was allowed to!). I will proof his letter, but I'm going to let him do the writing. I am not going to lurk at all. Okay, not going to lurk much!!

I'm going to start in on another letter myself. I *FINALLY* finished writing a letter to a friend in Europe on Friday and it went out in the mail on Friday too!! I'm not carrying it around in my bag anymore. Now hopefully I can get my next letter written and mailed in a timely fashion. I've not been a great pen friend but am going to make a concerted effort to do better.

Letter writing is an art form, one which I need to improve. I like to write, but at times, I feel like I'm writing stupid, inane things. I don't want my readers to think that I'm a class a geek or anything. I just want to convey how things are going on my end. A letter should be, in my opinion, more than just an exchange of information. It's a snippet of someone's life. I want to share my experiences with my friends, but I don't want them to be bored. I guess it's a case of being hyper critical of myself.

Exercise

Thursday night in class, Mr. L gave us a new workout for our glutes that he got from his physical therapist. You stand on one foot, such as your left. Raise your right foot out behind you. As you do, you hinge forward from your hips and reach with your right hand. If you can get down a little lower, that's a good thing.. Keep reaching. It's an incredibly good stretch for the glutes. He had us do this several times during the warm up. I am going to work on that here too because I liked the stretch. There's another stretch we do for the glutes where you are on the floor with one leg bent at an angle. The opposite leg is straight back. You lean forward over the one leg and get the stretch in your glutes that way. I actually enjoy that exercise. I like the stretch. I really should stretch daily but don't. I make excuses about "not having the time" but I know I can make it. I just have to get my lazy butt up and moving.

Today was my 14th out of 20 exercises on the Active. I had boxing today, which I enjoy, as well as baseball and tennis. The tennis was pretty good. I was able to hit a good forehand swing. I'll never play at Wimbledon, but it was a good exercise. I'm practicing using my hips more. I've got to work on that because it translates to karate as well as every day things. In the boxing, I'm working on getting the stances down and the foot positions.

I'm turning into an exercise junkie, I think. I don't run (yet), but I definitely think that I'm getting somewhere with exercising. Once this 30 day challenge is finished, I think I might just go ahead and start another one. I really like the feeling I get from the exercise.

The halfway point

As I've mentioned before, I'm doing the Wii Active 30 Day Challenge. Today was the halfway point for me. I bumped up my intensity level to "medium' because I felt that I wasn't working hard enough on the "easy". It's a nice little program. I rather like it. I totally feel like I'm seeing results, even if my husband does tell me "it's only cellulite". I will NOT let him get me down. If I want to think I'm seeing results, then I'm going to see results! There is a LOT to be said for the power of positive thinking. I've gone so far as to condition myself to *not* get unhappy about about the running and lunges. In fact, I actually like the lunges. Okay, if I'm 100% honest, I don't like the running and the lunges, but I won't be negative about them because I feel like it'll go against what I'm trying to train.

After my workout, I went into my closet to find a shirt that I wanted to wear to karate today and decided to try on a pair of pants that I haven't been able to wear for a while. They FIT! Even better was the pair of jeans (size 18, yes, I'll mention it) that fit!! They were not comfortable, but I could get them on AND I could button them up. That, to me, is progress. I'm happy about that! It was a welcome thing to find out! I'm not ready to wear the jeans, but I can be happy that the exercise routine seems to be working out!!

I reached the halfway point today. I have two weeks to go until the finish of the "game". Once I hit that month mark, I'm going to start another 30 days. I am really happy about it. It's giving me an ego boost and I feel immensely better about myself.

One year ago

One year ago, I made a decision that changed my life in a good way. I left my old martial arts school. For a month or so, I floated, not doing anything, not part of a group of anything. Then I found BTK, attended a Dan Training, then showed up for a few classes and now I'm here and I'm not going away.

I am celebrating my one year anniversary. I'm a part of a bigger whole, a part of a family with BTK. I have friends who respect me. I have friends too, who are more than willing to give me a swift kick in the butt for being a whiny butt (and you know who you are!). I appreciate you, even if I don't tell you!!

I'm totally over myself and my ego. I had a huge case of "this is how things have to be." when I came into this school. Thanks to a few people who took the time to *care*, I have learned to let go of my pre-set conceptions about what I should or shouldn't be able to do. If I don't do things the way they're done in BTK, I can modify what I know to move forward and learn how to do things in this school. You need to check your ego at the door here. Nobody is better or worse than anyone else. Yes, there are people with much experience, but you know, that's because of their training, not because they're better or worse than anyone else. THAT is something I like! It's a nice feeling to know that if someone is demonstrating something to you, it's not for a "shock and awe" factor, but rather from the fact that they *know* the technique to demonstrate to the class.

Who would have thought that one year ago, I would have considered changing things? I'm glad I did.

Vacation doings

We're having a "staycation" this year, but it's turning out to be fairly pleasant. Yesterday, we did very little, just hung out at home, watched movies and played games on the Wii. Today, we went to the National Boy Scout Museum in Irving and had a lot of fun, walking around. We looked at many paintings by Norman Rockwell and some of the other paintings and drawings by his successors. That was very impressive. For a while, we were the only ones in the painting gallery, so the docent came over and talked to us. He explained the paintings to us and helped the kids find the "problem" with one of Rockwell's paintings. It wasn't a problem, per se, but it was an unusual one for two reasons: 1. Rockwell painted himself in it and 2, one of the Scouts shown was painted with only one leg. It was really a neat painting. Rockwell had some serious talent.

We went into a different gallery and watched a quick movie on Scouting. They had a mannequin of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of Scouting that was so lifelike, it wasn't even funny! It watched us, literally. We found out that a lot of famous people had been Scouts. People like Presidents Gerald Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter; Buzz Aldrin, Bill Gates, Neil Armstrong (he was an Eagle Scout), the late Robert McNamara. It was a good learning experience.

After the museum, we came home and worked on the little man's requirements for Weebelos. He described to me what three of the parts of his uniform are (the kerchief, slide and hat), plus told me when and where he could wear his uniform and where he couldn't wear it. We also looked at the requirement for his "Forester" Badge and his "Handyman" badge. He's on the verge of earning the Handyman and on the verge of earning a science and math belt loop. I didn't know how much was involved in Boy Scouts!!

Tomorrow I have a visit to my dentist to fix a broken filling. That should be loads of fun (NOT!). I'm highly fussy about my mouth and can't stand things like shots and whatnot. I won't be in a good mood because I suspect I won't be able to have my morning coffee. I think I'll just make sure I drink a ton of water before I go.

Note: Today was a "rest" day, so I don't have a workout to talk about today.

Day 6 of the 30 Day Challenge

Since we bought the Wii Active, I've been faithful to the program. I AM working out every day, even if I'm not blogging about it here. I've noticed a few minor changes. The changes I'm seeing not everyone else will see right away as they don't see me as I do. I'm pretty happy about it though. I'm noticing that I am getting smaller and it looks like my arms are gaining definition. I'm going to stick with it because it's a lot of fun. I can only imagine what my poor downstairs neighbors think though...there's an "inline skating" thing that has me jumping to do "tricks". I haven't quite mastered that yet. I hate jumping, but I'm getting better.
Tony pointed out to me today that I have a tendency to land hard on my heels when I'm running, so I need to work on that. It may be the cause of some of my foot pain. I'm not sure yet. I'm going to practice running on a track tomorrow, not on the carpet in the living room. It's a "rest" day for me on the Active, so I CAN go to the track. I am noticing now that I'm happier when I'm exercising daily. Must be that endorphin high I keep hearing about!!

I have 20 more workouts to do on this 30 day challenge thing. I'm happy to keep at it. Once that challenge is over, I might just start a second one. I'm not sure yet. We shall have to see. I know I need to start working on pushups and crunches too. Those are important to my martial arts studies, so I'm going to work on them too.

Day 5

Sunday we broke down and bought the Wii Active. Since then, I've been using it regularly, as part of my "normal" exercise routine. I feel pretty good about it. I'm not the best at some of the exercises, but they will come to me. They will also help me with my martial arts. Today, for example, I had lunges (oh, ick!) and boxing. The lunges are a necessary evil, I believe, because I need to build the strength in my legs and Master M told me that they were a way to do just that.
I also had some "boxing" today. This is nothing like the rhythmic boxing that the Wii Fit has. This is aiming at actual targets. If you "break" the target, that's good, but if you at least make the attempt to hit it, that's good too. I definitely will have to learn to use my hips as I'm doing the game. It's a good plan of attack because it'll help me improve my kicking skills too. Kicking=use of hips. Boxing=use of hips. See the correlation?

Anyway, this was day 5 of the Wii Active 30 day challenge that I'm doing. I'm pretty pleased. I've managed to keep up with it so far. I'm not getting discouraged. I'm actually laughing because it has "inline skating" that makes you first crouch way down (to gain speed), then JUMP really high. It's to do a "trick", but that depends on when you jump. If you don't jump at the beginning of the ramp, your avatar lands very hard. (If a person landed the way that avatar does, they'd have broken ankles!!)

I'm on vacation now. I won't be at work until the 15th of this month. I don't know what the guys are going to think. I don't know if I'm even going to worry about it. I've stressed out over doing a good job for so long, it's good to just let someone else worry about it. Of course, in the back of my mind is a small "what if they don't do it the way I want it done?", but...I'm not going to let it bother me. I'm going to enjoy myself. We're going to do home stuff and hang out here. We MIGHT go to Houston for a day, just to see Tony's Grandmother and uncle. That is a "might". We could also go to Oklahoma and also to Shreveport. I'm considering all of those things.

Forms

Tonight I think I FINALLY got my head wrapped around forms again! I practiced Pyung Ahn Ee Dan, Pyung Ahn Sam Dan and Pyung Ahn Sa Dan tonight and was able to do them. Ms. M corrected something I was doing incorrectly on Sa Dan, and I was able to pick it back up and keep going. That made me very happy with myself. So after class, I talked to Master G and was talking about how I "couldn't remember" Pyung ahn Oh Dan. Well, guess what? Not only did I apparently lie about that, I managed to do the *entire* form in front of him and did it all the way through, correctly!

Bear in mind, I've been fighting myself for the past 9 months to convince myself that I did know Pyung ahn Oh Dan. I hadn't actually TRIED to do the form, just reviewed it mentally. That wasn't enough. I figured that since I've been working on trying to reclaim my forms, I'd go ahead and brush up on them and get them back. After all, I am a Dan and need to remember them. I'd been setting myself up for failure by saying "I can't". Well, I CAN!
I was literally jumping up and down and getting excited in front of Master G because I DID!!! It was so exciting to see that I DID remember that particular form!!! YAY!!

Ms. M made the recommendation that I just pick a form and drill it over and over. I'm so glad that she made that recommendation! It felt really good to hear Master G call out a form, which I had been doing and I was able to do it and do it RIGHT!!! My next step is to keep working on Pyung ah Sa Dan this week, plus review of Sam Dan and Ee Dan.

Methods of training

I talked the hubby into going out and letting me get the Wii Active today. One of my FB friends recommended it. I tried it as soon as I got it home. I went through a hard 20 minute workout, but I'm not complaining! I enjoyed that workout and feel like I accomplished something. I need to make sure I warn my downstairs neighbors that I'll be doing some running, in addition to other things. I need to be careful, however, since I've somehow managed to hurt my right heel. I don't know if it's Achilles tendonitis (which is what hubby thinks) or if it's Plantar fascitis, but whatever, I don't plan on aggravating it too much! If necessary, I'll talk to the Masters on Tuesday and ask to be excused from running...or I'll just walk. We shall see. I don't want special dispensation from anyone. I just want to do my best and work hard. They expect hard work, I expect to give it.

In Open Training yesterday, I worked with Mr. D about a rear choke hold grab. It was interesting. It's a matter of someone grabs you, then you smack them in a highly vulnerable spot, twist, elbow them in the ribs, on either side of their body. It worked very well for me. Of course, he was about my height. I haven't tried it with someone taller than me...YET. I need to make hubby practice with me. I worked with the little boy on wrist grabs. I needed the practice and he can help. It was a good thing. He's learning (somewhat by osmosis, maybe) how to get away from someone who grabs him by the wrist. I'm going to keep working with him and also with Ms. A on the wrist grabs. They're good for both kids to know. I talked to Master G about working on them with little A. MG said that it was okay for him to work with me. I have a goal to learn the Ho Sin Sul by the end of the year. I need to get all of the Ho Sin Sul learned. I have no excuses. It's a reasonable goal. I even let the cat out of the bag and told Master G that I have set myself this goal. I WILL make it happen! I know at least 3 of the Ho Sin Sul by memory--they're all wrist grabs, but still, I can do them.

GOOD LUCK BBM!!

Good luck tonight, BBM!!
I know you'll do well! You won't settle for less than 100% effort!

Go get 'em!!