So, I decided to make my next tourney a goal.  It’s the first tourney I’m going to do as a blue belt, so I kind of feel a little more pressure to perform well.  During karate class, we usually end with a 5-10  minute workout of varying types…usually some combo of situps, pushups, squats, burpees, etc.  So I imagined that I was on the mat during competition, and every time I felt like pausing, I thought “if I were competing right now, if I stopped I would get choked out.  I would keep pushing.”. And that prevented me from “letting” myself take a break.  Did I have to slow down? Yes.  Did I stop? No!  Did I push myself harder then I have been?  Yes!

Note to self for the future- HAVE A GOAL!

I thought this quote quite bjj appropriate…

The best part of it is that I didn’t even mean to get it…I went in that morning to help my friend Lisa who was nervous about testing for her stripe, and when our instructor got there, he asked me if I was testing…and I said, “no.” He asked me how I was feeling and I was like, “good..” (and thinking he’d lost his mind)…and then he said, well, get your gi on, you’re testing! and so, this is the amazing story of how I got my blue belt. It was totally unexpected. Makes it that much more sweet, I think!

ta da! brand new blue belt, yay!

Here is the group of us that tested that day:

Lisa and I went out for an afternoon celebratory drink afterwards:

If someone had told me 10 yrs ago, when I first met Maddy’s mother, that we were going to become the best of friends, and one day her daughter was going to be the center of my universe I would have laughed in their face.

Even if that mysterious someone told me 2 yrs ago that when Maddy was born, she was going to become the sun in my life, I still would have laughed.

See, I don’t like little kids.  I was the youngest in my family, and my brother never had kids, so there were never any little munchkins running around in my life.  Babies were just goo factories, as far as I was concerned.

And then Madelyn was born.  I’m still convinced that when I went to see her in the hospital, she laid a spell on me.  Cause, well, I still think babies are goo factories.  Except for Maddy.  Maddy is NOT a goo factory.  She is the single most coolest thing that has ever happened to me.

I feel so lucky that Maddy’s parents trust me enough to let me spend time with her.  Cause, truely, I am learning as I go, not knowing a thing about little kids.

And sometimes, I feel like I am in a movie-because I can’t believe that my life has been so blessed with such an amazing gift.

I hope everyone out there had a great holiday and an excellent new year.

See ya on the other side!

Still have been busy…and haven’t really had much interest in writing…so I haven’t been here.  I’m sorry.  I hope some of you are still with me.  In any case, last month (May 22nd to be exact)  I won my very first tourney match.  I totally sucked at the regular tourney, coming in 4th (out of 4), but only two of us signed up for absolutes so we went again and I won! yay!

here’s the video–the unintended commentary is my brother and mother. (ps.  I’m in blue!)

http://youtu.be/IYqgjcNJ_Xg

I’m competing in a tourney tommorrow that I feel horribly unprepared for, but my Mom wanted to go and see me, and my brother was available to drive her up (she is in her 70′s and it’s an hour and a half from her house) and I basically will do anything my Mom wants if it won’t kill me (cause she had a scary year health wise last year, so it has made me a little neurotic) so off I go to compete.

My allergies are KILLING me…uggh…it’s been raining here for a week and I have a mold allergy *bleeeh* I’d like to cut my nose off, thanks!

On a less happy note, I may need a root canal (waaah!) but I’ll know more on Tuesday, I have an appointment with a root canal specialist person (I know the real name, I just can’t spell it)

But so many other happy stuffs have happened I’m in denial about the root canal for now.  I’ll worry about that on Tuesday. (knock on wood, not in pain)

Have a happy weekend all!

I have been taking a graduate class (i’m working on my Biololgy MS) in virology (ie, more then you ever wanted to know about viruses).  Unfortunately, the class focused more on the molecular biology of how viruses work, and my molecular background…well…is minimal.  So it required a lot of focus on my part because I had to do background information review.  In addition, I was writing a grant at work to get $$ to help us enhance our curriculum (I’m a biology teacher btw).

I had an 8 page paper  due on May 5th, the grant was due May 10th (so I mailed it on May 6th) and my final exam was on May 10th.

May 10th is my birthday.

Needless to say, I’ve been crazy busy.  On the bright side, I recieved a 93 on my final, an A on the paper and an A for the course.  Still waiting to hear on the grant, but on Saturday I’m going out to dinner with my friends for my birthday. (yes, ladies and gentlemen, 11 days AFTER my birthday, cause that’s the first chance we were all available to get together.)

Also on the bright side, I can see the end of the tunnel regarding finally finishing my master’s degree.  I calculated, and determined that if I take a summer course next summer I can be DONE.  And so, that’s the plan.  I will be done either by summer or fall 2012.  I can’t wait.   And then, hopefully, if our governer hasn’t totally screwed everything up, I will be able to earn more money so I can stop living from paycheck to paycheck.  Although that also could be achieved if we could get the contract we’ve been without for the past three years…but I shall not get into any of that cause I could rant for days, and apparently expressing your opinion automatically translates into “you’re a greedy money hungry evil teacher that is at the root of the problem and not a part of the solution.”

Anyway, life is finally calming down, so hopefully once I get caught up on all of the other things that have fallen to the wayside while I was so gosh darn busy, I will be able to get back to blogging more regularly.

*wishes she hadn’t promised herself no new gi until she fits into an A2 *