That crashing sound? The sound of news breaking.
Some fun recent events:
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., TKD tournament. It was my first tournament in... a very, very long time. Let me put it this way: my last tournament, I was still a red belt, and I was pretty darn pathetic. I only decided to go to this one because, hey, going off to college soon; I thought it might be nice to have some real accomplishment. So I went. Of course, the first three or four hours were just me watching all the kiddies (not that I minded much--watching little kids spar is hilarious!) and, at times, snacking while trying not to get crumbs on my uniform. But then I got to do stuff, and when I left I was wearing two medals.
The less impressive is the silver; second place, technically. I got that for sparring, but my, um, "division" was exactly two people. We were the 15-18 Black Belt Male crowd. So, yeah. We sparred once. I lost 5-2. Not impressive, as I said. Now's when I mention that I hadn't done any point sparring in--well, pretty much since my last tournament. I never even got to practice it in class before this tournament, probably because I didn't go that day or something. Well, whatever, I don't care much about that one.
The one I do care about is the other one, because it's not silver. It's gold. I got first place in forms. And here's where I mention that for forms, my division was not just two people, thank you. That was just for sparring. For forms, it was all adult male black belts. I got first place in forms competing against all the other adult male black belts. And after, a random mother came up to me and told me "Your form was amazing." And one of the women black belts (er, adult female?) told me "Your form was awesome." Theme!
You know what I think is kinda funny? That form is now officially award-winning, but I have no idea how to spell its name. I'm going to look it up. Okay. Time to get funky: it's "choong-jang" ... I pronounce it something like "june jong."
But I still have a bruise on my left knee because one of the moves involves dropping onto said knee while kicking with the other leg and the tournament was in a gym with, you know, a hard wood gym floor. And in a tournament, tentatively lowering myself was not an option. Nope, it was just drop--OW! and I had to hope I did the kick okay because I honestly could not tell through the haze of pain. Not so much the first time I did it, but by the third... ow.
Saturday, 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., eat an unfamiliar dinner in an unfamiliar house with people who ran the whole range of familiarity--from never-seen-before to, um,
gwaihiril. Surprise: the food was good! It helped that I hadn't had any real lunch (look again at the times of the tournament, and remember that I only mentioned "snacking") but yeah, the food was good. And filling. And for dessert I had some cheese, which was kind of crazy, and bread. Lots and lots of bread. I have a theory that, post-tournament, my body wanted carbohydrates. I'm probably making it up, but I will hold to it until it suits me otherwise.
The whole thing was kind of fun. I wouldn't want to run off and do it every week or anything, but it was a pretty nice experience. But note to self: next time, remember to print reverse directions, too, because you can't count on there being someone to so conveniently follow. And possibly see about hiring somebody to be navigator, because looking at printed instructions while driving unfamiliar roads in the dark? Can't imagine that being fun.
Sunday, not much happened. I skipped out on Grubby Sunday at church, which I felt kind of guilty about, but I had homework to do and hadn't exactly had tons of time to do it on Saturday. So I went home and worked on the outline for my social ethics comp. (Fun side note: when I found out this time last year what the senior social ethics comp is, I wondered how I could ever write such a thing. But now it feel like it'll be easy. I guess they know what they're doing after all!) Then I went off to service and told them they had me for two more weeks. (That's not how I told them, but yeah... that's the basics of it.) After May what, second? I will be done with my senior community service requirement. Kind of a scary thought. Only took me all year. (Hee!)
Monday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:50 p.m., rehearsal as usual, except some guys came to film us for a while near the beginning and we got out 40 minutes early. And the guy playing Nicely was not there. Singing "Guys and Dolls" by myself was interesting, but not really something I want to repeat. And Fugue really doesn't work with one of the parts missing. Anyway, the filming was because they were filming things all day long for their silly little admissions video thing. Last time I remember them filming was two years ago--I remember because they got my physics class, and there's a pretty bad shot of me doing something on my calculator. Of course, knowing sophomore!me, it was probably a mini-text adventure. (Mini because most of them had, like, four things until they ended.) I can't wait to see the new one, with its token shot of the drama people. Probably the very worst possible of everything the guy filmed. Actually, you know what? I'm going to go on record here betting that it includes the shot he took of the offstage cast just sitting and watching, and it's going to include it multiple times, one of them possibly in black and white. If it does, I reserve full right to laugh and say I told you so.
Right now: I should perhaps go to bed?
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., TKD tournament. It was my first tournament in... a very, very long time. Let me put it this way: my last tournament, I was still a red belt, and I was pretty darn pathetic. I only decided to go to this one because, hey, going off to college soon; I thought it might be nice to have some real accomplishment. So I went. Of course, the first three or four hours were just me watching all the kiddies (not that I minded much--watching little kids spar is hilarious!) and, at times, snacking while trying not to get crumbs on my uniform. But then I got to do stuff, and when I left I was wearing two medals.
The less impressive is the silver; second place, technically. I got that for sparring, but my, um, "division" was exactly two people. We were the 15-18 Black Belt Male crowd. So, yeah. We sparred once. I lost 5-2. Not impressive, as I said. Now's when I mention that I hadn't done any point sparring in--well, pretty much since my last tournament. I never even got to practice it in class before this tournament, probably because I didn't go that day or something. Well, whatever, I don't care much about that one.
The one I do care about is the other one, because it's not silver. It's gold. I got first place in forms. And here's where I mention that for forms, my division was not just two people, thank you. That was just for sparring. For forms, it was all adult male black belts. I got first place in forms competing against all the other adult male black belts. And after, a random mother came up to me and told me "Your form was amazing." And one of the women black belts (er, adult female?) told me "Your form was awesome." Theme!
You know what I think is kinda funny? That form is now officially award-winning, but I have no idea how to spell its name. I'm going to look it up. Okay. Time to get funky: it's "choong-jang" ... I pronounce it something like "june jong."
But I still have a bruise on my left knee because one of the moves involves dropping onto said knee while kicking with the other leg and the tournament was in a gym with, you know, a hard wood gym floor. And in a tournament, tentatively lowering myself was not an option. Nope, it was just drop--OW! and I had to hope I did the kick okay because I honestly could not tell through the haze of pain. Not so much the first time I did it, but by the third... ow.
Saturday, 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., eat an unfamiliar dinner in an unfamiliar house with people who ran the whole range of familiarity--from never-seen-before to, um,
gwaihiril. Surprise: the food was good! It helped that I hadn't had any real lunch (look again at the times of the tournament, and remember that I only mentioned "snacking") but yeah, the food was good. And filling. And for dessert I had some cheese, which was kind of crazy, and bread. Lots and lots of bread. I have a theory that, post-tournament, my body wanted carbohydrates. I'm probably making it up, but I will hold to it until it suits me otherwise.
The whole thing was kind of fun. I wouldn't want to run off and do it every week or anything, but it was a pretty nice experience. But note to self: next time, remember to print reverse directions, too, because you can't count on there being someone to so conveniently follow. And possibly see about hiring somebody to be navigator, because looking at printed instructions while driving unfamiliar roads in the dark? Can't imagine that being fun.
Sunday, not much happened. I skipped out on Grubby Sunday at church, which I felt kind of guilty about, but I had homework to do and hadn't exactly had tons of time to do it on Saturday. So I went home and worked on the outline for my social ethics comp. (Fun side note: when I found out this time last year what the senior social ethics comp is, I wondered how I could ever write such a thing. But now it feel like it'll be easy. I guess they know what they're doing after all!) Then I went off to service and told them they had me for two more weeks. (That's not how I told them, but yeah... that's the basics of it.) After May what, second? I will be done with my senior community service requirement. Kind of a scary thought. Only took me all year. (Hee!)
Monday, 3:30 p.m. to 5:50 p.m., rehearsal as usual, except some guys came to film us for a while near the beginning and we got out 40 minutes early. And the guy playing Nicely was not there. Singing "Guys and Dolls" by myself was interesting, but not really something I want to repeat. And Fugue really doesn't work with one of the parts missing. Anyway, the filming was because they were filming things all day long for their silly little admissions video thing. Last time I remember them filming was two years ago--I remember because they got my physics class, and there's a pretty bad shot of me doing something on my calculator. Of course, knowing sophomore!me, it was probably a mini-text adventure. (Mini because most of them had, like, four things until they ended.) I can't wait to see the new one, with its token shot of the drama people. Probably the very worst possible of everything the guy filmed. Actually, you know what? I'm going to go on record here betting that it includes the shot he took of the offstage cast just sitting and watching, and it's going to include it multiple times, one of them possibly in black and white. If it does, I reserve full right to laugh and say I told you so.
Right now: I should perhaps go to bed?