Just when you think you know me...

HA! I am going to surprise some of you.

But first, a customary report, this time about Drew. Drew hadn't been in class this week due to illness, so he went today. I think a lot of people, due to the long weekend last week, came to make up classes this week, as it was rather crowded. There were even a lot of adults in the color belt forms class of Drew's today, which is quite unusual. Drew didn't want to cooperate. He kept saying he was tired. I think he might have been a little bit, because before class we were actually making him help clean up the family room (horrors!), and all the cardio they did at the beginning of class could've easily tired him out. Between recovering from his illness, my suspicion that he indeed has asthma like his mom (but his father insists on denying it), and that he might genuinely be tired, he wasn't very cooperative. He may have been a little bored too with the moves they were practicing today. I don't know. But at least he didn't have any major blowouts or tantrums or cause too much of a disruption in class. I could tell all the instructors were trying to get him to cooperate, but not pushing any buttons at the same time, which was good. Oh well. I did show Drew the whole first segment of the form so he could see it, since it was new to him, and I think he might like it. He agreed that he'd like to see the form on the DVD we have so that he might better understand it, and that's fine.

While I was waiting, I was also handed something that I earned a while ago. Behold my latest achievement with the ATA:

Level 1 - Corner Judge

Now it's official. I really am a Corner Judge now, which is pretty cool. This means that I can judge hands or feet in a color belt ring, but not be the center judge. It's a start! I have to see if I can either figure out myself, or have either Sandy (the expert seamstress/quilter extraordinaire) or my MIL fix my sleeves on my uniform so that a) they are hemmed and don't get in the way, since I roll them up currently, and b)once that's done, they can put this patch on my right sleeve where it belongs. Heck, I earned it, so I want to wear it!

And now, for the possibly surprising news. I am actually stopping TKD for a while. It mostly has to do with financial reasons, as money is tight right now. Tuition at our school is steep, especially the first three years of membership, and it's money that we can use towards other things. I won't get into the details, as it's not worth it. We'll be fine, really. Heck, we are still having Drew take classes, because, well, he needs them more than I do. He's taken at least two breaks in his studies, and I've never really taken one. I only plan to be out one cycle, or about 2 months, so that's not too bad. Besides, as it's always said, there is no race towards a black belt. Taking a cycle off isn't going to hurt anything. I wanted to take a break a while ago, as I was really stressed out shortly after getting my black belt, but at the time, my employment was tied to me being a current student. Now that's not the case, so I can take the time off, and not worry about losing my job. I think it'll be good to take some time off anyway. I think I felt burnt out for a while, and as The Black Belt Mama has discovered through her ACL injury and recovery is that sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder, as she yearns to be back at the dojo. Me, I miss it a little bit (I still have one more paid week right now for myself), but after two months, I'm sure I'll be ready to jump right in again. It was a decision that I made to help out my household so we can stay afloat for a bit-- we should be back on our feet by the time I plan to return. And to have Drew stay-- I think he'll benefit from being the solo guy for a while. He's still proud to have a green belt finally, and this gives him some time where the TKD is HIS thing, now just OUR thing.

So that's that. I'll still be updating about Drew's progress in class, because I think it's important for people to understand how a kid with several learning disabilities can progress. And heck, I like to think of myself as a proud mother who tries to understand the best and worst in her child, and I can explore that-- or at least one aspect of it-- here.

I might also take the opportunity to finally write some essays in rebuttal or otherwise of my own from my own personal martial arts view. I've often read some of The Black Belt Mama'scomments, or another favorite's, John's Martial Views, and thought that if I wrote a comment, I would be writing almost a mini essay, and I should write a post about it rather than clutter up their blog comments. But I haven't gotten to it yet. So John and BBM (among others), be ready for some commentary which may or may not run along the same lines as your thinking, but hopefully would bring about a lively discussion! ;-) We'll see. I know there's at least one that I hope to write about that has to do with Extreme Martial Arts, because I have a slightly different perspective, I think, than most, since I have friends who are involved in XMA, including world and state champions.

In the meantime, I'll close this post with something that I found amusing about how my martial arts education has influenced my "real world" life. I am the den leader of Drew's Cub Scout group. All the kids and most of the parents know that I have my black belt in TKD, having even set up a kids' self-defense seminar with one of the ATA masters at the beginning of the year. So, tonight was the annual Blue & Gold dinner, which is a big to-do where the kids get their rank patches and such. During the dinner, one of the boys asked me if I could "karate chop" his ice cube that was in a napkin. For whatever reason, he wanted crushed ice. So of course, the parents there are egging me on to do it, and I said I'd try. I took the ice cube, which I think was slightly melted, in the napkin, and figured that a good palm heel hit would do the trick. Sure enough, it did, and the parents were surprised, and of course, the kid was delighted. The parents then were telling me, and teasing me a bit too, that I really know how to keep the kids in line and such. One dad even said as a reminder at the beginning of ther year, I should take a board and break it just to remind them who's boss! LOL I laughed too (because it WAS funny), but just explained that a lot of the attitude I have in there really stems from my experience in the leadership program at the ATA. Courtesy, respect, discipline, and focus seem like things that the Cub Scouts try to instill in the boys too, so I just carry it over. After all, they need to respectfully and courteously listen to others if they want to be heard themselves and expect the same from others. It seems pretty logical to me, so it's just a matter of me trying to enforce that as best as I can. I'm just glad that the parents appreciate that I try to do that. As a result, I can say that my den is one of the better behaved dens in our Cub Scout Pack, and I plan to keep it that way straight until they are Boy Scouts. So there you go.

One more set of classes, then that much deserved break...