Peg Kerr's Journal

It seemed to go by so fast. Karate marching basics, basics (punching and kicking), paper kicks, self-defense, pad strikes, and sparring. We ended with horse back riding punches.

I wore my White Tree of Gondor T-shirt underneath my gi for good luck, as I had planned to do for years (during pad strikes, I thought about bashing in orcs. Hey, whatever works).

( I did Zhang Du Moon for form )

( Sparring )

Mr. Sidner, who has taught everyone in our family since 2003, tied on my belt. It meant a great deal to me.



Then I tried on my new blue coat and my family joined me for the taking of pictures. I got genuinely teary. My, how long and hard I've worked for this!






Special thanks to my instructor, Mr. Sidner, who has been with us every step of the way on this journey.





Thanks to my family,











my parents and my sister Betsy, and to naomikritzer






who got up early on a Saturday morning to cheer me on!

I DID IT!!!

Fiona has passed her black belt test, second degree! She now will wear a red uniform with yellow piping.

July 31, 2010 Black belt test for Fiona - Second degree

( Kicking section ) (Fiona is the taller of the two girls in this line, farther from the camera)

( Form )

( Self Defense )

( Jump Scissor Kicks )

( Paper Kicks )

( Pad kicks )

( Sparring )



( More pictures afterwards )

The test went really quite well. I was plenty nervous, especially because I was having cramps in both feet for almost a half an hour before the test started. But once I got started, the body settled down, and it didn't give me trouble during the test. Thank heaven. There were only three advanced belts testing: me, and two black belts, one first degree and one second degree, both testing for section stars. Therefore, we were told to come to take the test with the Intermediate belts, rather than having them hold an hour and a half long test for just the three of us. Therefore, things were much easier than they might have been, if it had been a standard advanced belt test. The kicking didn't go on nearly as long, I didn't have to do paper kicks, and I got much more rest.

I had a little trouble with balance on the injured side during the kicking section. But my instructor reminded me to arch my back, and things settled down. I felt quite confident on the form and self-defense section, and sparring was easy: I only had to demonstrate a setup and a jam, rather than free sparring as we would if it had been an advanced belt test.

My instructor said I looked very solid, and he thinks I'll be entirely ready to test for black belt test in December.

If I live through the screenings first. Oy.

Here's a freeze frame shot I grabbed from the video I did of Fiona doing her form last month.

Talk to the Foot!







I'll send it to her. Maybe she'd like to make an icon from it or something.

Fiona was supposed to screen for her third section star last Saturday, but she woke up suffering from a cold that day, so we arranged for her to delay and take her section test today at a different school. She still didn't feel 100% and had a crummy day at school that was making her stressed out. But she passed the section test. This is a smaller school (it's one of the ones where I take belt pictures each month) and so they have just one test for all levels. This was actually a bit of a break for her: instead of a tough hour and a half exam for just the advanced belts, which would have meant longer sections for kicking, paper kicks, and sparring, she shared the test time with students at every level. This gave her more time to rest between sections, and the test ran long and so they didn't even do paper kicks or sparring at all.

Anyway, she looked great. She was one of three first degree black belts testing for section stars, and she was definitely the best of the three. Her kicks were faster and much more technically correct, and she locked out hard and had greater intensity. I was really proud of her. I have some pictures and video I'll try to get up this weekend.

She is going to start the screening process for black belt second degree right away. The first screening is going to be next Wednesday night.

I also talked with our senior instructor today, who told me that he intends to have me test for my double black stripe belt either at the end of June or July, and I'll start screening for my black belt exam in August, with the goal of taking the exam in December (assuming I pass all three screenings. Which is a very big 'if.') I told him that the knee seems better, but it still does give me trouble, as well as the hip, and I'm honestly doubtful I'm going to be able to make it all the way through the screenings both in terms of the injury and in terms of stamina. He told me again that they do make allowances for older students recovering from injuries, and I've looked very solid in class.

Well, it's hard for me to believe, but he's the expert.

Wow. Black belt. I still can't quite believe it.

My hands are extremely painful, with cracked dry skin.

I hurt all over today. I went back to karate class yesterday (I'd intended to be going to two classes a week by now, but I've missed two weeks of classes due to all sorts of conflicts, plus depression). I'm using this knee brace, which works pretty well, and gives me good support, and keeps it warm, but of course, it prevents me from chambering my kicks very tightly.






It's so hard not to get discouraged. This knee problem, I've decided, seems to be a permanant injury. It still hurts, hurts, hurts when I do a full squat, even fourteen months later. I still can't do slow kicks on the injured side without holding the bar--my balance on that side is entirely shot. I have no more balance on that side than a green belt. I'm in the class below my belt level, and it still just seems so hard. And I'm not even going back to sparring class yet. After sparring class on Monday night (I was waiting because Fiona was attending), I joined the class to do the killer abs workout (the dreaded Ab Ripper DVD) and that's making me even more sore today. Alarmed by my physical deterioration, I've re-started the leg exercises I'd been doing when I was going to rehab, and so my hips and butt are sore, too. Gah. I WANT the black belt, but I just have a hard time believing I'll be able to accomplish it. Fiona is trying to buck me up, and I try to cheer myself by reminding myself that even if my side kicks seem lousy to me, there are very few women I know my age who can do a side kick at all.

Fiona is testing for a section star this Saturday (her second of three she needs to begin the screening process for black belt second degree.) She's doing the bo form, Soishi No Kang. She looks absolutely great doing it, except for one fault that just drives me crazy: her back heel pops up off the ground in almost every single one of her front stances. It's a bad habit she's had since she was a purple belt. I'll try to get a video of her doing it when she does the test this Saturday.

The girls are very difficult to rouse in the morning. Delia, poor thing, has to be out at the bus stop at 6:50 a.m., and she is downright snarly when I go in to wake her up (the alarm clock doesn't work for her. I have to rub her arms and legs for five to ten minutes every morning before she reluctantly surfaces). And Fiona has been incredibly groggy lately, too. We usually can't get her out of bed for as long as forty minutes after her alarm goes off, and then she attempts to dress, eat, and get out the door in ten minutes. The results are not happy.

The garage door is cracked, making it extremely difficult to close.

Cooking has been...interesting lately, mainly because I've been depending more on whatever we get from the food shelf. (Thank heavens for the food shelf. It's been just a God send for us.) It's different than shopping for yourself; instead of going to the store for what you intend to buy, you take whatever they happen to have on hand and then try to figure out how to use it. Often, stuff at the food shelf is distributed right before the expiration date, so sometimes its a challenge to use it in time. Rob's been volunteering there on Tuesdays, so we're entitled to two visits a month. At church this week (our church is one of the ones supporting this week) they said that food shelf visits are way up. They distributed 5,000 pounds of food last week.

We've been working on cleaning the house, in preparation for starting to cull stuff so that we can rearrange two and possibly three rooms. As I mentioned, I am giving up my office to give Fiona a bedroom. I'm viewing this as a temporary solution, until she goes away to college, but it's very difficult emotionally. We are trying to work out a way to carve out at least a small space for me, either in my bedroom, or in a room downstairs. The process of all this rearrangement will take us quite a while.

Rob has started another short term job with the Census. He's pleased because they went to more than the usual amount of trouble to call him back and promote him to a higher position. He's also gotten a call back for a legal editorial position. This means he's cleared the first hurdle, but he has to pass a test and, of course, battle with a bunch of other candidates for a limited number of slots, so it's useless to get hopes up yet. Still, it's more movement on the job front than we've had for months.

I'm really really really angry at Congress over the loss of a chance to pass health care reform, and I'm pretty ticked at Obama, too.

There is stuff that Elinor Dashwood isn't talking about (isn't there always). It's been preoccupying me a lot lately, which is why this journal has been quiet lately. I'm still here, though, still battling to keep my family together, moving forward through this tough time.

I really don't know the Discovery form. Well, I know the first half, but not the second. So I didn't pass pretest. And I pushed it a little in class last night, which means my leg is hurting a bit today. I don't think it's really yet up to the rigors of a full advanced belt test. So I'm off the hook for this month, but I'll hope to test next month. I'll work hard on the form until then.

( What I did today to make the world a better place )

I realize I've been actually been putting off making this entry, I think almost out of superstitious fear. We know that she got exposed to strep throat last week, but she seems to have dodged the bullet. Here goes:

Delia is testing for black belt on Saturday, September 6 at 9:00 a.m.

You are all invited. Drop me a comment if you are interested in attending.

Yay!

I didn't think they were going to look at me this month. But rather to my astonishment, I was assessed during class tonight for pre-test and I passed.

I am testing for the big one, BROWN BELT on Saturday! (And Fiona will be testing for the first of her three section stars this Saturday during the same test). Once (if) I pass, everyone at the dojo will then start to address me with the honorific "Ms." (as my daughters have been addressed for the past year).

It's a good thing I have an appointment to see my doctor about my breathing problems/coughing tomorrow.

Brown belt. Wow. Zowee.

I'm very excited. And nervous