Camo belt achieved! Tonight was graduation. I got through just fine. It was a smaller group than usual, and some people who were expected didn't show up, like my buddy Laura. Oh well. Most people there were black belts doing various mid-terms, and I was the only low-level person testing. The other color belts were doing the same forms, so after tonight, Ma'am said I was part of "Team Color Belt" now. After all, going to camo takes me out of the beginner levels, I'm now in the intermediate levels. I also did something that none of the other color belts did, which was do weapons. I was the only one, and one of the other color belt ladies said to me increduously before I did it, "You mean you're doing WEAPONS?" Hey, I guess that in my pursuit to put myself in the mentality of going on the competitive circuit, I'm willing to try. I wasn't going to penalized for doing it, so why not?

JC and Drew came to the graduation, with the purpose of showing something to Drew to aspire to, and at the same time get some moral support. It somewhat backfired. Drew behaved most of the time, but he had a few moments when he was talking a little too loudly, and at one point, he had a meltdown that JC had to take him outside. I was SO embarassed. But otherwise, he wasn't too bad. I think he just got bored, and didn't watch it all. And the whole reason I wanted them to come, which was to see me receive my actual camo belt, they completely missed as that was the time that Drew was taken outside. Part of me was heartbroken. I wanted to cry, but held it together.

In the meantime, Ma'am informed me that she was cutting out the Tuesday class. It was a business decision, understandably, and she even said that she was sorry. And I understood why she did it, I really do. But I'm disappointed, because now I have to figure out either a night to go, or I have to do double duty on Saturdays. The problem with doing double duty on Saturdays is that Drew drags me down. I mean, I going to help keep him in line, and I can still do that. However, he will not be working on the same form as I will be, and that doesn't help me. So I think I may have to make some difficult decisions.

So it was a night of progression, and yet a night of disappointments, and just embarassment due to Drew, which didn't help. Having that personal attention of Tuesday classes taken away wasn't done to hurt me personally, and I know that, but I will sorely miss it. I know that Ma'am has my back in the long run. She wants to help all her students progress and feel self confidence. While I still want to start competing and really progress, I feel like losing those Tuesday classes is taking that self confidence away from me. I'm feeling a little bottomed out right now.

I'll talk to Ma'am about the next regional tournament. I'm sure she's say that I can't learn the form for camo level fast enough, but it doesn't hurt to ask. I've got nothing to lose by asking.