Yes, it's been quite a day
The belt test itself was far and away less horrible than I remember my yellow belt test being. We did the usual opening with the written test, but Jason fiddled with the order to make forms and sparring happen earlier in the day than they usually do. That was helpful, but the unholy combination of normal martial arts Jeopardy with the traditional obstacle course sucked. We were running frantically around the outdoor shopping center on an evil scavenger hunt (in the middle of the afternoon), which was less than awesome because I was evidently about to have an asthma attack during one of the longer runs. Oops. Rachel has exercise-induced asthma and told me that as long as I get an inhaler for it before the next test I should be fine.
All in all, I did much better than I was expecting to given how terrible my last test felt. I got a few unhappy injuries and I've got some epic bruises on my right forearm from backhanding the knife away during the knife counter drills, but I'm relieved that I didn't gas out or fall over or something else terrible. I know my kicks have improved a lot and I'm getting better about controlling my breathing, so the test wasn't quite the "I'M GOING TO DIE NOOOO STOP HITTING ME " ordeal that my first test was. :-P
The best past was definitely the grapple attack scenario. Everyone testing was given the name of another tester who they had to attack at an unpredictable moment and subdue somehow. I was told to grapple-attack Garrett. He's only eleven, but he's heavier than I am and an immensely talented grappler already; he's even tapped out some of the older crop of orange belts, so I wasn't interested in a fair fight. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity when he'd be tired or distracted....and then he came up behind a tester I was standing next to and started choking her out. The second his arms were locked around her neck, I grabbed him, pulled him to the ground, and started attacking him. For a second he managed to hold both of us in headlocks, but then I popped my head out, rolled back, and put him in an armbar. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the ridiculousness soon, once Mike uploads what he took. Everyone was really cracking up, so my guess is that it looked funny.
Other stuff of note:
~I'm living in an apartment with Anna (my excellent roommate for the past two years), Allie (a coworker), and Svea (a really nice German student who just got here Saturday night). All in all, I really like it. Having access to a kitchen that's maybe six steps from my bedroom is super-convenient, and I've already cooked a lot. Anna evidently approves of my habit of making about one large pan of macaroni per week, and Mom's classic spaghetti sauce (with modifications like "quintuple the normal amount of oregano!") seems to be perfect for creating infinite leftovers. Having a real kitchen should make food experimentation a lot easier.
We've had to file some maintenance requests, but the workers are really prompt. Hopefully they'll fix the dishwasher soon....it was fine for the first few weeks and then just stopped getting the dishes clean. We have no idea why. The only other issues are really minor things, even though we do still need a couch. Who knew finding an inexpensive one that didn't reek vaguely of pee would be so difficult?
~I went to see "Scott Pilgrim Versus the World" with Anna and some of her friends on Friday. If you enjoy video games and/or video game jokes, I recommend it. The main character was a bit of an idiot sometimes, but I had fun and there are "help, it hurts to be laughing this hard" moments. I think it would've been even better if I'd ever played the Zelda series.
~Ian broke up with me. Yes, I am sad about it, but I'm handling it better now. No, I am not interested in having long talks about it.
~For anyone who doesn't know, I'm attempting to do a senior honors thesis about the satire of warfare in the works of Voltaire and Terry Pratchett. I've finally started my epic Pratchett reread and am remembering why I didn't like The Color of Magic as much the first time around. There are some imaginative concepts (because Pratchett does that) and he introduces two of my favorite characters. However...the Patrician and Death frankly annoy me in the book and don't start to become really great until a good few books on.
Meh, long bulleted lists probably get boring for y'all to read and my bruised forearm is starting to hurt. Maybe another entry later this week.
All in all, I did much better than I was expecting to given how terrible my last test felt. I got a few unhappy injuries and I've got some epic bruises on my right forearm from backhanding the knife away during the knife counter drills, but I'm relieved that I didn't gas out or fall over or something else terrible. I know my kicks have improved a lot and I'm getting better about controlling my breathing, so the test wasn't quite the "I'M GOING TO DIE NOOOO STOP HITTING ME " ordeal that my first test was. :-P
The best past was definitely the grapple attack scenario. Everyone testing was given the name of another tester who they had to attack at an unpredictable moment and subdue somehow. I was told to grapple-attack Garrett. He's only eleven, but he's heavier than I am and an immensely talented grappler already; he's even tapped out some of the older crop of orange belts, so I wasn't interested in a fair fight. I was waiting for the perfect opportunity when he'd be tired or distracted....and then he came up behind a tester I was standing next to and started choking her out. The second his arms were locked around her neck, I grabbed him, pulled him to the ground, and started attacking him. For a second he managed to hold both of us in headlocks, but then I popped my head out, rolled back, and put him in an armbar. Hopefully I'll have pictures of the ridiculousness soon, once Mike uploads what he took. Everyone was really cracking up, so my guess is that it looked funny.
Other stuff of note:
~I'm living in an apartment with Anna (my excellent roommate for the past two years), Allie (a coworker), and Svea (a really nice German student who just got here Saturday night). All in all, I really like it. Having access to a kitchen that's maybe six steps from my bedroom is super-convenient, and I've already cooked a lot. Anna evidently approves of my habit of making about one large pan of macaroni per week, and Mom's classic spaghetti sauce (with modifications like "quintuple the normal amount of oregano!") seems to be perfect for creating infinite leftovers. Having a real kitchen should make food experimentation a lot easier.
We've had to file some maintenance requests, but the workers are really prompt. Hopefully they'll fix the dishwasher soon....it was fine for the first few weeks and then just stopped getting the dishes clean. We have no idea why. The only other issues are really minor things, even though we do still need a couch. Who knew finding an inexpensive one that didn't reek vaguely of pee would be so difficult?
~I went to see "Scott Pilgrim Versus the World" with Anna and some of her friends on Friday. If you enjoy video games and/or video game jokes, I recommend it. The main character was a bit of an idiot sometimes, but I had fun and there are "help, it hurts to be laughing this hard" moments. I think it would've been even better if I'd ever played the Zelda series.
~Ian broke up with me. Yes, I am sad about it, but I'm handling it better now. No, I am not interested in having long talks about it.
~For anyone who doesn't know, I'm attempting to do a senior honors thesis about the satire of warfare in the works of Voltaire and Terry Pratchett. I've finally started my epic Pratchett reread and am remembering why I didn't like The Color of Magic as much the first time around. There are some imaginative concepts (because Pratchett does that) and he introduces two of my favorite characters. However...the Patrician and Death frankly annoy me in the book and don't start to become really great until a good few books on.
Meh, long bulleted lists probably get boring for y'all to read and my bruised forearm is starting to hurt. Maybe another entry later this week.