New Ranks in the Villegas Household!

There were two graduations/testings today. Drew had his first. He held through and followed through fairly well. Even Ma'am told me later that she felt he did pretty well, all things considered. One thing that was funny during his graduation towards the end was that the kids all had to line up by rank, but of course, they have no clue. Drew was the only one still in his Cubs rank before receiving his belt, so Ma'am would call up all the blacks, all the blues, then all the purples, then all the yellows, then the oranges, and then she called, "All those with a white belt with a camo stripe come up. (quick pause) That's you, Drew!" He jumped up as if to say, "Oh!" and got right into his spot, because he didn't realize he was being called because of his unique belt. I was glad, that at least he was recognized as being a higher rank than the white belts. That made me proud. He was very proud of his new orange/white belt. In the scheme of things, compared to being in the Cubs, he jumped up about 6-8 belts! It's going to be a while until he gets another belt, but that's okay. He's holding his own in the big kids' class, and he'll focus more with maturity. Ma'am told the parents that at this stage, the kids can buy their punches and mouthpiece. Since he can't even do what he's supposed to do with the "noodle" for defensive stuff, I asked if he could wait, and she said sure. He's too young for that, and for taking class twice a week. I mean, he just turned 4 1/2 two days ago, for goodness' sake! But Drew is happy about his new belt, for sure.

As for me, as I said the other day, no worries. I admit I still sped through it with Laura despite what I was supposed to do, but I remembered a few things that Ma'am pointed out yesterday, so hopefully she noticed. When we were supposed to declare our "jun-be", I said "Black Belt Excellence, Ma'am!" instead of, "My goal is Black Belt, Ma'am!". She corrected me, but still said it was okay. I covered up by saying that I guess I'm achieving high for now! ;-) But it all went pretty smoothly. Even at one point, everyone except certain black belts and certain colors were supposed to put on sparring gear, and here I didn't listen right, and put mine on. It was the first time I actually got my chest protector on by myself, and then as I got everything on, Laura tells me we don't have to spar. Oy on me! Oh well. I suck at it anyway, so I was glad. Two ladies, a mother and daughter (and we are talking the daughter is MY age!) both were going for their black belts tonight, and they broke their boards on the first try (then again, wood is easier to break that those damn plastic boards!). It was beautiful to watch. I hope that's me in time! In the end, I did my form and my one steps fine, and people who know me from classes came up and congratulated me and said I did a nice job. I didn't hear that for Laura. :-) I guess I actually have some talent for this, and maybe they see it. And ultimately, I earned what I was seeking at this point: my yellow belt.

Next rank to work on is my camoflauge belt. The first three belts are done in three form cycles, and I came in on #2, so I've done #2, tonight I did #3, and now I start back on #1. As a result, it will be WAY easy, but Ma'am already told me (as I may have mentioned yesterday) that she will be much more nit-picky about the details in order for me to move onto camo belt, which is an intermediate level. I'm thinking that's fine, because a) it's good to work out the kinks when you are still in the lower levels, and b) if I've already done the two harder forms and one-steps, the ones I have to do next will be EASY. Ma'am also mentioned to me yesterday that with me doing an easier form, I'll have more time to work on weapons and sparring. That's good, since I'm just starting weapons, and I suck at sparring and need help with that. I like weapons so far, but I REALLY need to practice to get even close to good. I was watching some of the stuff tonight with the numchucks (and these kids were using doubles), and man, I look like a wussy even with what I have learned so far! I've got my work cut out for me.

So, I'm excited that both Drew and I get to move ahead, one step closer to our black belts.