I finally got my first class where I assisted under my belt today. I had intended to stay for two more classes, but Victoria, aka Miss Plummer, told me that she didn't need the extra help for either of those classes (Bear Cubs or Special Abilities), so I went home after that.

But first, my regular class. It's the few days after graduation, so we really don't learn much with form or anything like that right now, especially since the school's going to be close most of next week for Spring Break. Which is fine. I don't remember everything we did, but rather more about the one kid who is definitely a problem. His name is Malachi. He put the "mal" (bad" in Malachi. He's one of those learning disabled kids who gives other LD kids (like my Drew) a bad name. He's a real discipline problem, and he immediately strikes you from the moment you meet him as a troublemaker. I've seen his parents, and I just get the impression from looking at them that this kid is one of those super "late in life" kids, and while I know they send him to the Lewis School for his education, they strike me as the types who don't discipline him too much, and depend on school and TKD to straighten him out, you know what I mean? Well, it started with him being obnoxious in general. Then, when we were supposed to get our "new" weapon, called the ssang-jeh-bahng (aka numchucks), he said something obnoxious that REALLY got Ma'am pissed by the way he said it, and then he announced that he didn't have a pair, as it got stuck on the roof of his house. Ma'am, knowing what a troublemaker this kid is, told him that he would have to just move his hands or do pushups instead, and that he'd have to earn the money to pay for a new pair, because she wasn't going to have his parents just buy him a new pair or lend him a pair for class. Then, when we all had to spar, he was roughhousing a little with one of the adult men before officially starting our sparring rounds, and he kicked the guy in the groin. Now, first of all, you don't kick anyone in the groin, that's a given, especially one without a cup on. Second, you're not supposed to do that anyway in TKD. Third, the guy he kicked is a black belt and bigger than him, so he should know better! Malachi looked at me when he was done, thinking that I'd find it amusing, and I told him my disgust with it and that it wasn't funny, and he said almost proudly, "I know." When we had to switch partners, he wanted to fight me, and I absolutely refused. I don't need some kid beating up on me if he can't control himself. And I was very clear when I said, "No way, I'm NOT fighting you," and walked away. After class, Ma'am told him that after he got his gear off, she wanted to see him in her office. I don't know what was said, and I didn't see him leave, but I have no doubt that he was given a pretty good lecture. I almost hope that if he doesn't watch himself, he'll be kicked out of the TKD school. He's not a black belt yet, but at the rank he's at, he should know how to control himself and speak to his superiors, etc. I'm sorry, I'm one of those people who see kids who are DS or autistic behave better than this kid, and they DO have neurological issues. I have no sympathy for this kid. He's just a nuisance. It's funny in an ironic way. Ma'am has to be nice to the kids to a certain degree, because the parents pay for her to teach them. Her temper, and her perspective, are not different than mine. The difference is, that I'm not paid, so I can say what I want to this kid, at least for now. Ick-grrrrr.

I did have some positive moments of my own. I was at least a little ahead on the ssang-je-bahng (I'm going to have to find the spelling of that), but hopefully I can learn a lot more this cycle. And I'm still doing okay on the elbow board break. Still took a couple of tries, but not a lot of tries. Even the gentleman holding the board, Ron Plummer (yes, Victoria's dad), noticed that it happened a lot quicker. Ma'am was telling Ron, "Don't let her [meaning me] practice too much on this. She needs to just go." Sure enough, BAM. I think the problem today was that I was stopping, when I really need to visualize my arm going all the way through. If I do that, then I do follow through.

So anyway, after class, I took a quick break for lunch, watched the older kids' color belts (which I could've helped on-- maybe next time I will), and then went for the Tiny Tigers' class. This is the class Drew would be in if he went on Saturdays instead of Wednesday. I think I made a good impression. I did stuff with the kids, and helped some of them understand how they were supposed to be doing a drill with front stances by telling them to pretend they are big fat sumo wrestlers, and that's how they had to walk. Once they understood that, they did it correctly. There was also a new kid named Hunter whose dad was trying to get him to participate. Evidentally, he visited last week and was stubborn about it, and he was just as stubborn in trying it out this week. I worked with him a little, and gave positive encouragement to him where I could, and I think he responded better once he got into it. Some of the other kids responded well to me too, as they really behaved well when they paid attention to me. So, I think I'm definitely cut out to do the kids' classes. I left feeling pretty good.

I talked with Ma'am before class, and she was cool about me helping with classes today, and also with helping me with my form for tournament in a couple of weeks. I really hope I can get into some sort of regular rhythm with classes and eventually learning the business side of things soon enough. Our neighbor Brenda offered to watch Drew after school and such if I needed help. I don't want to take advantage of her offer, but she said compared to some other kids that her son Evan is friends with, Drew is a CALM one. I wouldn't have guessed that for the life of me, but hey, if she enjoys having Drew over, all the better.

I'll need to practice in the meantime.

So I sent an email to Ma'am today, asking if I can meet with her before the tournament for some extra help as I evidentally had some issues with my form, because I couldn't believe that I had choked like I did last night, and I really want to do well in Lincroft. She sent the following response:

The "issues" with your form was more nerves then lack of knowledge and that is why we call it graduation not testing. I will be away next week but will be happy to find time the week after. Are you in over the weekend that we can schedule some time?

Gotta love the woman. :-) I definitely picked the right teacher.

We all have new belts here tonight. Drew got his full orange tonight, and was very excited and happy. He behaved well during the graduation, and sat patiently, etc. It wasn't too bad. He's just happy he has his full orange now. He's not getting another belt until the fall, with him skipping the summer and all.

I got my green belt. I think I'm a little disappointed in the end. I had mentioned that I had hoped that maybe my leadership uniform would be in, and that everyone would see me get it. Evidentally, this was not to be. Either the uniform isn't in, or she just doesn't play like that. I thought that maybe I'd get some sort of acknowledgement, but not that either. I waited until the end, and nada. So, when we were all done, I just left quietly among the hubbub of activity, as the place was super packed. To backtrack, everything went okay. Not great, but okay. I had been practicing and practicing, and I didn't think I was that nervous, but evidentally I was because I screwed up. Enough that I was embarassed, but I wasn't made to feel embarassed. It was self-inflicted, the best kind, don't 'ya know? I had just finished telling Sharon that she should not pay attention to the rest of us, and just go at her own pace, and she'll find that she'll do better. The adults, fortunately, didn't have to do it with the teenagers, which helped tremendously. I do feel like not having the personalized attention of that one class finally showed that it took its toll. At least I remembered the ki-haps at the right sections, considering I just got them down today. Ma'am didn't make me feel bad. I mean, she acknowledged that this was a hard form. And considering that the rest of the color belt adults above me were actually about 3 ranks or more above, I guess I did okay. I'm just concerned that this is the form that I'm going to be using for the regional tournament, and here I screwed it up when I really did know it. I had even been practicing the finer details of head turns and everything, and it all went down the toilet tonight. I think I have to email Ma'am and see if maybe she can schedule an afternoon before the tournament to work with me to get the kinks out. The worst she can say is no. Weapons went fine, although I think I was probably lame at the end, but then again, I don't even have to do weapons at this point. My first graduation sparring went okay, as far as I could tell. Again, I was fortunate that I would go up against Sharon, and we only had to do one round. We were laughing because we usually spar together, so we know each other's weaknesses. I know I did one illegal punch, as far as I was figuring, but I got a lot more kicks in, so hopefully that balanced it out. I think just thinking that I was going to be congratulated publically for joining leadership would happen, and it didn't. Maybe because there's enough people doing it that it's not that big a deal. I don't know too many adults, though, who are in the program, or for that matter joined up this early in the game with it. So, we'll see.

But I'm a green belt now. Once I complete this belt's form, etc., then I will be halfway up the ladder of belts to the black belt. But I can say that it looks like going from brown to red, and red to black belt recommended, then recommended to full black takes some time. I guess I'm not in a rush.

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.