The Martial Artist

8-5-09

AM

Not much to say for the morning practice. I simple went through my forms a couple of times and called it a day. For some reason I managed to convince myself that today was Thursday this morning and that I had a dentist appointment at 3pm so I should go home and get to bed so I can get some sleep before the appointment. When I woke up I realized my mistake and it was too late to do anything about it. Tomorrow I do have the appointment so I may not go to the gym at all; depending on what time we get out of work. If we get in early and get done by 6 then I will hit a light strength training session but we will see what happens.

PM

Black Belt class was a bit complex tonight. By this point most of the people testing for different black belts have their paper work and are collecting signatures from the Masters as testing endorsements. Thankfully of the 6 Masters in attendance tonight I have seen many of them in black belt class and they know my wife and I if not by name then at least by face. I do not like asking Masters that I have not seen much in class because it feels like I am putting them in a bad spot; I know this is not the case and I am weird but that is just how I feel. Honestly when not if I make it to that level I am not sure how I personally would feel if a person I do not see often would ask for my endorsement.

I also found a way for Mrs. Munt to sign off on my test form. She is the assistant instructor at the west branch and there is actually not a place for her to sign but I made on. She has been a huge part of my training and honestly I end up in 4 classes a week with her and I believe she deserves to be recognized as one of my primary instructors. I am sure Jr. Master Peshca will understand my position on this issue. The only signature I did not get tonight was my schools Grand Master. Normally he takes the forms after he signs them and there are a couple other Masters I want to talk to before I get my papers taken away. If all goes well I will have them sign off next week, if they are not there then I will just turn in the paper as is.

Class itself was great. We worked very hard on basics and Grand Master Kim worked us hard in individual rank practice. When my group was excused I ended up holding a kicking shield and let most of the class beat up on me for a while. Honestly we have some talented martial artist at Kim’s Academy and a few of them pack more power in their kicks then I have seen even in kickboxing. It hurt but well it was worth it.