Day 28

Only one week until my orange belt test. My back kick is looking a lot better. My power is improving and my balance for the most part. All forms required for the test look good. Kee Cho Hyung Sam Bo could probably use a little more work, but it should be sufficient. I've pretty much got all of my one steps, self defense moves, and hand grabs down. The only thing I'm a bit concerned about is sparring and only because we haven't done much of it. Sparring class is on Wednesdays and I work Wednesdays, so I don't get much practice in. I'm assuming he'll just make me kick and move my opponent around, as this is what we've practiced, but I'm really not sure. We've never discussed this. Tonight we did work on some sparring drills. It was the first night I got to use my new sparring equipment. I ruined my mouth piece this morning, so I'll have to buy a few more. We just practiced kicking our opponent and getting two punches in after we kicked. We also did alot of physical conditioning this evening. Fun stuff!

Well, I've added a two credit independent study to my school schedule to complete my minor. So, I'm back to having very little time. What I'll have to do is cut back my exercise routine a bit. Instead of going to the gym three to four times a week, I'll try to go at least twice a week. And I may have to cut Yoga, not that I've really gotten the chance to do that anway. But this is less of a pain than the other class I was taking. I'll still run in the evenings and Tang Soo Do will help to maintain my fitness level until I graduate.

And finally, I realized something last weekend that I think is pretty relevant to this blog. I realized that fighting is on Jason's mind alot more than it is on my mind, which got me to thinking about how fighting is tied up with masculinity and, thus, with masculine identity, which in turn is embodied and leads to a body that's more attuned to fighting. In other words, because Jason thinks about fighting, he is more likely to actively partake in fighting (or in training), or playfully pretend to fight (i.e., with me or by shadowboxing). He would also be more mentally prepared when actually fighting, as he's probably thought through many possible ways of defending himself. Just wanted to jot that down. I could do a whole lot more explaining, but I won't at the moment. I'll save it for a more subtantial piece of my thesis.

And that's it for this evening!

Day 27

Hum, well I think I'm both physically and mentally back on track this week. I'd really been in a funk lately. I generally kinda feel off at this time of year for some reason, but I think a large part of it was not getting into grad school. I was pretty bummed! The result was a drop in my self confidence. I no longer felt like I was worthy of being a graduate student of philosophy (although I would have re-applied again anways. I know I go through these phases and can see through to the other side). This feeling carried over to T.S.D class. But Sunday evening I had an epiphany and re-prioritized. I realized that I really wanted to be doing a different type of philosophy and that the schools that I had applied to weren't geared towards that type of philosophy. So, this made me realize that it was probably a good thing I wasn't accepted, so that I'd go to the right school with the right focus. Anyway, my life kinda came together that night and refocused me. I feel so much better and as a result I was right on it in class tonight. My back kick came along really well. And I'd like to thank Shawna for her tip for the back kick because it really helped me in class today!! Crazy how that works. Kee Cho Hyung Sam Bo looks so much better. Master Miller agreeded and now I'm learning Pyung Ahn Cho Dan. Yeah! I just generally felt more confident today. Rock On!

Anway, we did alot of stretching, quad work, and we did some punches. So, more physical conditioning than anything else.

Last week I kinda gave myself a break on the workout routine. I only ran for two days out of the five and I only worked out one day out of the three/four. I was spring break after all! But it feels good to be back on track! I do think a break every now and again is a good thing. It makes you appreciate what the workout does for you and breaks from the monotonous routine that workouts can get into. But I'm always eager to get back to my routine after a few days off. Otherwise I get sluggish and that's no fun!

Hum, can't think of much else to say at the moment. I did have a connection to make about to the frailty myth, but I'll have to add that next time. I'm running out of time. Good night.

Day 26

A pretty crudy day. I had a headache, and I just found out that week that I didn't get into any of the grad schools I applied for. So, I'd been pretty bummed out. And of course this affected my performance in class. Couldn't break any boards, my back kick was horrible, and I was being overly critical of myself. Needless to say I came out of class feeling pretty poorly, which is part of the reason I didn't write this after class on Thursday. Can't remember too much else that happend.