For Crying Out Loud

Well, it's Thursday and Hannah's home...again. Her left eye was still a little gooey this morning but her right eye was sealed shut. It took a few minutes just to unglue it. My hands are red and cracked from so much hand washing and I've been trying to sanitize everything she might have touched. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep doing it until her eye stops gunking up. Ugh. Have I mentioned that I hate pink eye?

Last night was our weekly Reflex class for jiu jitsu. Reflex class is where you take the techniques we've learned and put them into action. Essentially, it's over an hour of fighting. Last night was the biggest class that I've ever seen. Since there are certain requirements that have to be met before you can go, not everyone is eligible to attend Reflex class. Anyway, there were 10 of us (4 girls, 6 boys) and they really pushed us past our comfort zones. Val is my usual partner, and I did roll with her but I also had to go up against Karl, Greg, John and Dave. What's funny is, occasionally I was the bad guy for some of these guys. LOL!!! My arms are so bruised today. But it was worth it! :)

Test Results

We got our jiu jitsu test results yesterday. Of the 5 of us that tested, only 3 got their belts. I was one of the 2 that didn't. I'm sad but it's okay. I got this e-mail from Dave, our school's main teacher yesterday:

Karl, Steve and myself take full responsibility for this. We pushed you guys to do in 6 months what it should take to do in a year. If given the opportunity to test whenever you were ready, I am sure you would have chosen a little later. Comments on your techniques are good and I have those at the school. Please do not be disappointed with the results. If you consider that you have never taken Jiu-Jitsu before and that 3 of the people testing had previous experience, you accomplished quite a bit. I am, We are, very proud of what you have done and looking forward to helping you retest.

I did get my comments sheet and it's kind of cool. My evaluator was Rener Gracie and it makes me smile to know that he actually watched my tape. His comments were good (a little harsh at times) but they were very critical. My favorite comment was "awkward falling motion" on one of the standups. Of course, that was a deduction. According to Rener, I was right on the border and they had to err on the side of no belt. A few of the comments:

She stood up in base every time she got up - very impressive

Barbara knew several of the techniques very well. She seemed to be comfortable with the step by step execution with all of them.

Barbara was right on the border, she knew most of the techniques very well but there were critical errors made.

Overall, she did good and I would like her to retest after a few more months of practice.

Right now, I'm teetering on the edge of going full on back into it to prove that I can and quitting. It's not that I only did it for the belt but it's pretty humbling to know that I busted my butt only to find out that I was that close. I don't know.

Getting Back in the Groove

We've been home for a day or so now and I have to say it's nice. Not that we don't love visiting family but there's just something wonderful about being away and then coming home to the familiarity of your own home, bed and routine. I don't feel like I got much done yesterday since I was helping with Lego building for most of the day but I did get a ton of laundry done. It's all sitting in my dining room so let's hope I can get it all upstairs. I really need to do some sheets today.

I finished my Jiu Jitsu testing last night. A four minute "simulated fight" using as many techniques and submissions as possible. I thought that I would be the only one testing but there were two others, Ron and Mark, testing as well. Ron also had his simulated fight and Mark had to re-do his standing techniques since whoever called out the moves forgot about 4 of them.

As we were getting ready, they were telling me stories about how last week, they really did a poor job of timing during the simulated fight. That's why Ron had to re-test. His was only 3 minutes. They did the same thing to Val but they caught it right away. She then redid it and after a while, Karl (who was the testing instructor) began to think that the extra minute was a killer. Apparently, Val began saying that she was running out of moves and whoever was timing finally called time. Her roll was seven minutes. LOL! Needless to say, I was nervous about the timing.

I think I did okay. Stephen and Dave said it looked good so I'll take their word for it. I hope I get this freaking belt.

Snowy Tuesday

Last night, they said it would snow today. It certainly is. It started around 10am and hasn't let up. I can't believe they hadn't pre-treated the roads...they were pretty slick when I left my MOPS meeting at 11:30. It's days like this that I miss my old Cavalier. Ugh I loved that car.

Oh, sweet! A salt truck just went down the street. That'll help.

Last night, we had round two of Jiu Jitsu testing. We did all of the stand-up techniques. That would be where someone is coming after you and you take them to the ground. Not my favorite thing in the world. Mostly because I'm afraid of hurting my partner. There are also three moves where you head to the ground while either you (or your partner) is in a headlock. Those really crank on your neck. This week, we'll be working on Side-Mount techniques and then move on to the Guard stuff. We have to move quickly since most of us will be out of town for Christmas and the tapes have to be in by December 31st.

Monday...Phoootooos

We had a pretty busy weekend. Well, really just Saturday. Hannah and Daniel had TKD testing and that seemed to take all day. It was interesting, though, because I sat next to our friend, Stephen, and he gave a commentary throughout the whole thing. I got the full scoop on everything. Here are some photos...sorry they're a little blurry.

Daniel's form (he's in the middle)

Daniel breaking boards
Hannah's form
Hannah sparring


Saturday was also our TKD school's Christmas party. We had a good time up until Jacob had a meltdown and we had to go. While we were there, we had a great time. I got tired of never being in pictures so I did a lot of self portraits with our friends. So, in this post you'll also get to meet some of our friends.

Val (my usual partner for Jiu Jitsu and very good friend...you may remember her dog from a few posts back) me and Roxanne

Me and Karl (Val's husband and one of the Jiu Jitsu instructors)
Me and Stephen (from story above...Roxanne's husband, second degree black belt in TKD and Jiu Jitsu instructor
The kids eat dinner
Stephen, Mike and Ron

Me and Beth (Master Johnson's girlfriend and fellow Jiu Jitsu-er)
The kids learn how to play Othello
Dave, Beth, Dave (aka Master Johnson and head instructor of our school), Karl, Andry and Val
Hannah had a lot of dancing partners...Stephen and Hannah
Grandmaster Lee and Hannah

Testing

Tonight, we started the testing process for Jiu-Jitsu. It's a five part test that we have to video tape and send it to California for certification. If I pass, I get my blue belt. That would be really cool.

There are about 6 of us testing. We did the first part tonight: all of the escapes, control strategies and submissions from the Mount. In all, that's 9 techniques and 23 variations, in order and in 5 minutes.

Next, we'll do all of the Guard techniques, then Side-Mount and then Standing techniques. To end it, we have to freestyle fight for at least four minutes using as many of the different techniques as possible. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

And my back is killing me. Wish me luck!!!

Almost a Week

Since the big flood of '08. We're all dried out and now we have to figure out how to put everything back together. I'm not interested in putting carpet back down there. I've seen how much work carpet is when it floods and I don't want to have to go through that again. Actually, I don't want to have to worry about the carpet every time it rains. So, I've sort of convinced Mike to paint the concrete floor instead.

I've been talking to my friends about it and many of them have done similar things themselves. I have one friend that stained her concrete to look like terra cotta tiles. She put grout lines in and everything. Anyway, they say that it's pretty easy to do and the results are great. Plus, we wouldn't have to worry about carpet. If it floods again, we just suck up all of the water and put down some fans. I like that.

I've been given the playroom as my way of showing Mike how good it can look. The first step is an etcher (which sounds scary but you just paint it on), then you primer it and then paint. The last step is putting on a top coat that makes it all shiny. The kids and I have decided to paint the playroom floor white and put down circles and "swirlies" (Jacob's word) in primary colors. We'd then put down some Flor carpet tiles to give the kids a soft spot to play. In my head, it looks awesome. I just hope Mike likes it.

I got my first Jiu Jitsu stripe last night. I'm now a little over 1/4 of the way to my blue belt!! It's amazing what a little black piece of tape will do for your confidence level. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying it.

Oh, My Am I Sore

I had my first Gracie Jiu Jitsu class at our TKD school tonight. This was only the 5th class that they've had so I haven't missed much. What was interesting, to me, was the fact that some of the ground moves that we learned were easier to do with a heavier partner. I was paired with Roxanne for most of the evening and there was a move where we had to push our partner up with our knees and get our hips off of the floor. I couldn't do it with her but had no problems pushing up Master Dave. "See! I told you that you could do it!" is what he told me. I really struggled with the standing move that we learned and still don't really get it. Because I'm short, I really have to bend my knees down to get the right effect and I keep forgetting to do that. I did manage to make Stephen's face turn bright red several times (while he's trying to yell, "that's NOT it!").

Anyway, I had a great time even though my muscles are pretty wobbly. I'm feeling muscles I've never felt before. And, yes, I've actually signed up to continue.