April 5, 2006

Progress

Today was a good day. I was officially promoted to 5th kyu green belt. It felt good. This particular instructor believes in all the pomp and circumstance so the promotion ceremony made it feel even better. The thing that made it feel the best? We were doing kata tonight; and I did my kata perfectly. My instructor said, "I didn’t see anything wrong with that," and nodded his head approvingly. Affirmation; it’s about time. For the first time ever, tonight I was the high rank in class. It’s something I’m definitely not familiar with, but I could get used to it.

Now I need to work on what I need to know for 4th kyu green belt. . .

ten step blocking drill moving in Nai Hanchi with rear foot shift and punch (I know this.)
fore knuckle strike (I’ve got this down too.)
roundhouse kick (Lord help me.)
breakfalls-front, back, side & roll fall (this sounds exactly like what it is and let me be the first to admit, I will HURT and badly.)
chokes (I need to review, but I know the basics.)
Waza 6 (I started to learn tonight, and it’s not too terribly bad.)
Kata Ananku (No anan-clue.)
Weapon-Odo No Tunfa Ichi (I know how to use them; but learning all the intricacies of this kata will not be easy.)

I will hopefully be testing for 4th kyu in six months. I have a lot of work to do, but I am now half way to black belt. Tonight, my instructor took some time out to show me some extra details I need to start adding to my punches (hip rotation, and tension at the end of the punches). It is sort of like learning karate all over again. You learn the basic moves, and then when you get to a certain point, I guess you learn how to do it right.

Big I also had a good day at karate. I wasn’t sure it was possible after all the stress of our day which included: a haircut by someone with pink highlights which was quite traumatic for her, and shoe shopping for sandals (which is always traumatic for Mommy). I was sure that getting ready for karate and the class itself would be a nightmare. It was quite the opposite. Big I got ready without an argument and she did so well in class tonight. I was so proud of her! She seemed to really try and even got "tricked" into doing her waza by herself.

Our instructor said he was going to do waza one with her. He did a few times and then he would get into position, but not continue with the moves. Big I did. I know she knows it, and tonight she finally started to show it. We also had some progress on the communications front. Big I, who up until tonight has only done the sideways head tilt when addressed by anyone other than me, actually nodded "yes" and "no" to our instructor. I feel like we had a breakthrough. I absolutely LOVE days like this.

Maybe I’m starting to get my karate "mojo" back. Of course, I am fully aware that when I’m learning my new kata next week I’ll be promptly catapulted back to reality. But until then. . . I’m going to enjoy my new rank and my new found confidence.