Busy times these days

Life is rather busy these days. It's not that I've forgotten to update here, it's just finding the time, and if I've got the time, am I coherent enough in the aftermath of the frenzy?

So, for all intensive purposes, I have a night off. Normally, I try to go to TKD class on Thursdays, but I haven't gone for a while because something comes up. Last week, it was the last night of my FIL and business partner's visit, as they were leaving that night. Tonight, it was the book fair at school (my husband wouldn't do something like that, let alone even get something for Drew), so I haven't been to a Thursday class in a while. I actually miss Matthew, my buddy. I hope he's doing okay in class. I always felt that he did a little better because I was more willing to work with him than the others in class. He's a good kid.

In the meantime, work has been busy. SW was out pretty much all last week due to Fall Nationals (she came in 4th in sparring, and that's considering that she's still in recovery mode from her shoulder surgery),so that was pretty good. And Ryan and I have been holding down the fort and doing okay. As a small token of her gratitude towards us, she was kind enough to give us some t-shirts from the event, or at least for TKD from Disney Wide World of Sports, which was very cool of her. I can wear it to class, which is good! :-) It was nice of her to think of us. Her first day back in a while was yesterday, so we had a lot of catching up to do. One thing for sure is that there is no down time really at the school. We have an interschool tournament tomorrow which we still have to get things ready for (I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!), and she already has me working on getting holiday (Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa) stuff to sell gear, etc. for the gift giving season. I was doing a lot of scanning and photoshop stuff today. I didn't even finish, but I got a good head start on it.

In the meantime, how are classes, you ask? They are fine. Let's start with my Cubs class. Man, I threw them for a few loops the other day. First, I didn't hold class on the front floor, because I think two of the boys tend to look at themselves in the mirror a little too much, so taking them on the back floor, they theoretically should be watching me more. I let the kids who usually come in later choose their mats first. Oh, and I forgot to have them do their stretches via coloring on the floor! Oh well. We got caught up in other things. J, as usual, was being a pain in the tushie. He was trying my patience again. Problem is that when he acts up, then S starts to think it's okay to act up. Interestingly enough, the best behaved child in there is the youngest one in there, who's barely turned three, and that's R. He also is the one with the best technique too. For example, if I have the kids do a punch through the x-ray paper that I hold, he's the only one who does straight punches. The others will do something more like a hammer fist until I correct them that it's not down, but straight out like an arrow. But R is flawless for such a little guy, and I suspect he might have a real talent for this as he gets older. J, like I said, was driving me nuts, and being a distraction from class. "Are we done yet? My brother does that...etc." As I told him, just because his brother does something doesn't mean it's right. And I said that in front of his dad too. Evidentally, these brothers are all trouble, to the point that even the teen instructors feel that they have ineffective parents. That says something! So, we survived, and I think the kids are starting to get the hang of things. I'll be looking forward to graduating them at the beginning of December so that we can finally move onto bigger and better things, like a knifehand strike! I think they'll like that. ;-)

Classes for me...the morning class was good. Sandy from the Pennington ATA (Hi Sandy!) came, so it was nice to have another color belt in class with us. We did some drills, and I was paired up with Paul, the dentist with the Mazerati. He's a funny guy, very sweet and very upbeat. I've never seen the guy in a bad mood. Even when he is in a bad mood, he's still a lot more upbeat than anybody else. He seems to take a lot of stuff in stride, which I guess is something we should all strive for, don't you think? Anyway, we had a lot of kicking drills, and he was really helpful. He's one of those people who should be in Leadership but isn't, for whatever reason. I learned from him, and his good nature is definitely infectious. After the drills, SW had us split into groups of the tournament people and the non-tournament people. So Sandy, Jeri, Paul and I went to the back floor. Sandy was working on Chuhng Jung #1, which interestingly enough, I still remembered most of it. It's been a while, after all, and I crammed that baby into my head before the last regional tournament in July. And I was working on Chuhng Jung #2, as that's the last thing I worked on and it's still in my head. I'm debating whether I should continue to practice CJ#2 for the December Regional, if I'm going. :-S (That's another story in a minute.) Or, should I do what I'm doing now, which is Songahm #4? I could probably kick butt with S#4, since someone at my belt level would find it very easy, so I should theoretically be able to do it very well. I'll have to ask SW that. I also practiced my Jahng Bong. Still get stuck on the last part, but once I do it a few times, it comes. I'm just afraid of whacking someone accidentally in the process! Sandy was practicing the BME, and it's nice to see someone else who whips that stick as much as I try to do! I was giving her a few pointers from my experience, as I've always competed with that until now, and SW smiled and yelled, "Giving pointers now, huh?" as if to make fun of me playfully. Well, hey, if I can return the favor others have given me with help and pointers, why not? Besides, Sandy seems to be like me, in that even though she's an adult learning, she's determined to be as good as she can at it, and do things well if she can. Gotta admire that determination! So, she liked my "sic it to them" move at the end (my "signature" move which I think gets the judges attention), so I'm glad to share it. So, overall a good class, but in some ways, a little boring since it was reviewing a lot of old material that I feel like I have in my head pretty well at this point. I don't mean to sound cocky, but I'll be fine for Friday's tournament.

Leadership class was good too. We did some drills, and SW said that she wants to put more structure back in, and more of the "Yes, Ma'am! No Sir!" type of stuff back in, because all the instructors, and she listed herself foremost among them, at our school have been a little lazy about getting after the kids, so we were learning by self-example what needed to be done. Then we split into groups again to practice for tournament, and SW worked with her 3rd degree students (she has a few now!), since they usually get the short end of the stick in learning their materials. Of course two of them *just* got their new belts, so they haven't suffered too much. ;-) The meeting afterwards was good, because we were able to catch up some more and get the message out to people about what we are doing about Front Desk changes that are hopefully for the better, like automating more things, putting electronic files all the same folder, etc.

So, things are moving along. At least I'm ahead in learning my form segments, and even Ryan said that he'd teach me sections as needed in the time when he and I are there during "transition" of shifts. It only takes a few minutes, especially since this is an easier form than the last, oh, 4 of them? :-P Maybe I can talk him into the next segment on Saturday.

In the meantime, I got news of a scheduling conflict. JC told me today that he will probably be taking a business trip. To San Diego (man, I want to go!). In December. He leaves on December 1st, and returns on December 4th or 5th. Well, Master C's regional tournament in New Brunswick (which means it's only a half hour away!), is on December 2ND. This may mean that I might have to skip it if JC is not around. I mean, it's pretty much an all day event. You get there at about 8-ish in the morning, and then it doesn't finish up until about 5:30 or 6:00 PM. Truly all day. I can't ask my parents to watch him that long. JC thinks his mom might be willing to do that, but it's a lot to ask of her, especially since I need her to watch him for a few afternoons in about two weeks. Then the next day is the open house, if we haven't sold this place yet (PLEASE SEND GOOD KARMA/PRAYERS/COSMIC ORDERS OUT ON OUR BEHALF TO GET THIS HOUSE SOLD!), then I either have to have Drew stay here, or have grandparents watch him, and I don't know if my parents would watch him for that long. I would love it if they did. We'll have to see. It's still a month away, after all.

So that's the rundown of the last few days. Tune in tomorrow when you will be getting the results of our participation in the Interschool Tournament! I hope I can do really well this time, and get some extra points!