The grading got on my nerves even before I started. MM and I were the only ones grading today so we had to be up front only 10 feet from the judges. It started out well enough but in spite of my efforts to not tense up until it counts, and to relax at all other points, the sweat was just pouring off me like Niagara Falls. It was hot. I really got lost on the shutos and cat stance, but in other basics I think I did pretty well. It seems that the more tired I get, the stupider I get.
Nevertheless, I still managed to hang on until a short break happened. I was pretty low on blood sugar by that time so I was grateful for the break. In the second half we did kata, kumite, and yakushoku. Agian the more tired I got, the stupider I got, nevertheless I did not too bad. At the end I got punched in yakushoku and kicked hard in the ribs during free sparring, and they are pretty sore right now.
So I am black and blue. Black from the bruises and from getting the snot kicked out of me, and blue from the new belt I earned. The belt will be presented in our next and final class of the season.
on Jun 21st, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Congratulations on your new belt! More than halfway to black now! Great job, and now you can spend the summer working on your new requirements. Enjoy some recovery time, you just earned it!
on Jun 22nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
You are correct that I am almost halfway to black if you just look at the number of colors in the ranking system.
However in truth I am only 1/3 of the way to black. Next color is brown, then brown with a black strip (Shodan Ho), then black. Once I get my brown I will be 1/3 of the way to my black. 2/3 of the way happens when I get my Shodan Ho. Then comes black.