Well, the testing on Saturday went really well. Even Joe thought things went well, and that’s saying something, as he always has corrections for people. No corrections for anyone! And oh yeah, I passed! So, just 1 year until black belt!
After that we had a seminar, and we learned a new drunken immortal form. It’s one of the 18 most difficult in the system, and I seriously felt like I had been in a car accident on Sunday I was so sore.
I can’t complain, it was an extremely full weekend!
Hi there, yes been gone, I know. I have a perfectly good explanation:
So, Kung Fu is supposed to be 6 months to go from 3rd Brown to 2nd Brown. I am testing to 2nd Brown on Saturday, in only 3 months!!..... and our teacher doesn’t like to let people test early J.
I’ve worked my butt off to be able to do this. Everyone I talked to initially didn’t think I could do it. The material is way more difficult than anything we’ve had to do so far. But I’ve been focused, and I’ve done the best I can do.
Most importantly, it means that my next two tests leading up to black belt will be here in Cincinnati. Which means my parents can come watch.
A lot of this was driven by attending a talk on Shaolin history and heritage called Tales from the Temple by one of the elder masters in our system. One of the things that hit home for me was something he said regarding his father. He regretted that his father never saw him do anything with kung fu before he died. It was never important enough at the time. Since tests for higher degree black belts are closed to the public, I realized that I had only 3 tests left that my own father could attend, and my schedule meant those tests would be in Lexington.
So I decided to try to get the schedule changed, and waiting an extra 3 months at some point to do that just wasn’t an option, especially after learning that dad’s leukemia is starting to wake up again.
So anyways, I’m hoping to be back on a more normal schedule after Saturday, with perhaps a bit more time for things.
We’ll see!
