TUESDAY NIGHT- We worked a bit on the Yang Short Form and concentrated on the “Grasp Sparrow’s Tail” sequence and once again I was paired with Brent. He is good to work with and has a great sense of humor. But often we spend time figuring out what Bruce is talking about and I don’t feel that I get to practice the applications enough once we have got the gist of what Bruce says. Bruce doesn’t mind repeating the instructions and demonstrating but then he goes off to help other people and we find that one or the other of us hasn’t quite got it or misunderstood. But at any rate, it is starting to sink in and I am beginning to remember more of the moves as the year goes on. I wonder if I will be able to get through it by myself before the school year ends.

Then we worked a bit on some Dragon style sparring techniques. I may be reading a bit into it here but I think that perhaps Bruce wanted to give me an edge in my sparring with Jim at the testing on Thursday. Whatever the reason, it was interesting and I hope I can incorporate some of it into my performance on Thursday night.

Bruce has been asked to return to England for a seminar on healing and I really wish I could go with! But there is no chance of that this time, my finances are stretched to the limit and we just had a $1500 car repair that broke the bank. Fortunately I have some gigs coming up that will help pay for it. What a terrible time of year to go broke, but the cold weather here in Minnesota really takes a toll on any equipment that isn’t kept in a heated garage. And then there is the cost of gas, food and everything else that seems to be going up, up, up! And of course the holidays mean buying a few odds and ends for the kids. But such is life.

THURSDAY NIGHT- All right. I’ll start out by not keeping anyone in any kind of suspense. I got my Black Belt.

Here is a rundown of how things played out. I did my kata and thought it went okay, there was no questions from the panel which means they all understood what it was that I was doing. I felt that one or two of the moves may have gone better in practice but under the pressure of testing things always go a bit whacko.

Sparring with Jim went very well. I don’t think that I actually did any Dragon techniques but I was certainly thinking about what Bruce had said Tuesday night and I did seem to dominate the match. One thing that really worked well was moving into him when he was trying to set up a combination therefore taking away his momentum and destroying his attacks.

Sparring with Adam was a short serving of life in Hell but we got through it okay. I got in a few good shots but he kept making me aware that I was leaving my groin unprotected; he must have tapped it 4 times in the 2 minutes that we sparred. That being said, not all of those groin strikes would have had any sort of force behind them that would have found crippling enough to make me stop and I did get in a few shots at him and so I didn’t look like a complete loser. But on the other hand, a few of those strikes would have been really bad if they had had power behind them and it really showed one area that I need some serious work in. But it wasn’t enough to keep me from passing.

Adam is really good at sparring and been at it for a long time and is a third Dan, not to mention half my age. Let me see, did I leave out any other excuses? Oh yeah, I didn’t sleep well the night before and the dog ate my homework, the sun was in my eye and my allergies were acting up.

Okay, so what is true about that is that Adam, a third Dan, IS really good at sparring and HAS been at it for a lot longer than I have, IS half my age and I DIDN’T sleep well the night before. But other than that I really don’t have any excuses. But like I said, it wasn’t enough to keep me from passing.

For my board breaks I did a hammer strike and an axe kick and they both sailed right through and since two breaks was all I was required to complete the panel more or less suggested that I not bother with my other two, mostly since we were running out of time. But that made my daughters happy as they wanted to break a few boards when we were finished.

My two youngest daughters both tested and passed, although my middle daughter (11) only got one stripe due to her lack of power. But at least she passed. For her next level she will really have to develop some power if she wants to pass. My youngest daughter (7) did really well considering that just yesterday she was still not doing her kata right. But we worked on it a bunch before the test and got her doing her turns in the right direction and she pulled it off with only the slightest hesitation. Actually she did it better than the adult that was testing at the same level and didn’t get his turns right. Her sparring was really good for her first time and she remembered all her one-steps.

Bruce said that there was no question that I had done well enough to pass, so I guess that everything was okay. He kept the promise that he made to me almost two years ago when he said that he would see me through to getting my Black Belt. I do feel that he has given me a lot of personal attention that other students didn’t get but I also feel that he has been honest and wouldn’t just let me pass because I am a friend. He has a vested interest in making sure that QLK keeps getting better and better and wouldn’t let personal friendship get in the way of the style improving itself. And by that I mean that by “getting me through” he made sure that I was good enough or better. And I did work really hard on it so I really feel good about earning my rank.

My parents really enjoyed coming to watch and were able to see why I enjoy doing this so much. We all went out for a treat afterward. They were pleased with how their grandchildren did and I think they understand my feelings about having daughters learn to take care of themselves if they are ever threatened physically.

SO… Jim, Kevin (9) and I all passed and became Black Belts tonight. It was quite a feeling to have all the other members bow to us and the applause was really great. One of the comments that I liked the best was right after we all bowed out I heard Master John say “just think how many new teachers we now have!” Because that is one thing I have really been looking forward to, I really want to pass some of this stuff on.

I am really looking forward to the next year or more of student teaching and working on two Katas and getting ready to spar two opponents. Then I will be licensed to teach Quan Li K’an anywhere I want to. I don’t have any plans to set up my own school; I would like to keep helping out in St. Cloud as long as they keep it going there.

Have a great Holiday Season and If I don’t write anything until then, have a wonderful New Year.

More later-

GrumpyGriz