I think I'm ready for graduation. After a little bit of warming up tonight, all the different groups were allowed to practice and review their form. At that point, there I was again, with 3 other teenagers, this time all boys, but fortunately, one of them is in leadership-- Alex V., and I trust him in knowing it, so it turns out that I had been okay with my form. The problem was, just like last week, the kids generally rush ahead rather than take their time and then we aren't in synch. It wasn't quite as bad, but I messed up when we did practice graduation, and I know I know this form. Oh well. I'll do better on Wednesday. I also reviewed the rules of sparring with Ma'am, to make sure I understood where hits went, and I've got it covered now. I'm feeling a little more confident about that. Then it was board breaking time. I did it without the pad this time, and did two practice hits, missed the first real hit, and got it the second time. So I'm feeling good about that. And no bruises on my elbow! I feel really good about it now. I also got to hold boards tonight for higher ranks, which is cool. One was for a black belt kid, Ben T., who is just so cute and all smiles that if I was 25 years younger I'd have the biggest crush on him. He was doing something where he would so some sort of knifehand break, then turn, run, jump over a double stack of large body pads, and do a jump-kick break. It was awesome to watch him do it, just as it was cool that I could hold for him. The next break was for Ma'am so that she could practice. It figures that the one board she couldn't break was my board which she had borrowed. She said she wasn't hitting the kick at the correct angle, but I said it was stubborn as hell board. Oh well. So overall, it was a good class. I'm feeling good about graduation on Wednesday. I'm going to ignore the kids, and just go at my own pace, which is nice and easy.

Oh, and then before class, I got my copy of the form on DVD so I can watch and be ready and practice for the next few weeks, as I signed up for the regional tournament. Yes, yes I did too sign up for it. I'm locked in now, for both form, sparring and weapons. I do have to go find a better white t-shirt to put underneath. I hate regular t-shirts, so I think I'm off to Old Navy to find a decent tank top for underneath, or something like that. Anyhow, I have to be there for 9:15 AM bow in, but I don't compete until 2:30 PM. Oh well. It's my first regional, so hopefully I'll be able to earn some points, and just possibly rank for the state level for women my age and belt rank, and that'd be cool. We'll see how it goes. Regionals, here I come! And get this, the Grand Master himself is going to be there, so I really want to do well. I really doubt that he'd be watching me personally that carefully. I mean, I wouldn't care if the Pope was watching me. And yes, even if the Queen of England was there, I wouldn't care. I just want to go do my best, and I think with some practice, I could do pretty decently. So now it's practice, practice, practice.