typical Thursday

I don't know why, but today we had French speakers coming out of the woodwork for the coffee hour, which is mildly ironic because it happened just in time for there not to be a coffee hour next week due to the ATA meeting. (We're out of cups again, and we're running out of cookies. Gotta do something about that.)

I'm supposed to be writing a 3-4 page objective composition in French based on an outline I wrote last week. Which would be just dandy, except for two things. One, the subject I'm writing about is American politics, and two, it's hard to be concise about it. I've got about three pages now, which is good, because I think if I went on much longer, I'd give myself a headache. I don't think I'm even going to get to the foreign policy part of the argument if I've taken this long on the domestic policy part.

Speaking of headaches, I'm finally back to my normal level of backache and such, just in time to have another karate class tonight. Maybe since this one is with a different sensei, I'll get to work on kata and therefore not end up sore until Sunday. I'm not betting on that, though. And at least when I hurt, it's the good kind of hurt.

Right. Lunch, and back to explaining why W can go suck on a warthog (only I can't say that, because I'm supposed to be objective. See why this is so difficult?).

karate, again

On the one hand, being back in karate again is great. On the other, I wish there was an accelerated course. I train with the other beginners, and if I end up spending a month on nothing but the straight punch, the middle block, the front kick and the roundhouse, I'm going to get bored. I'm at a stage where I may have forgotten the existence of some techniques, but if you told me to do one, I could do it, and I'd be pleased with how I did it after 25 reps or so. I don't necessarily need to spend two hours a week on dissecting the front kick.

We were working on roundhouse kicks again tonight, which I admit need a lot of work. It's the balance (or lack thereof) that throws me off. But anyway, we got to work with pads, and I haven't actually kicked anything since I stopped taking classes at Oberlin. I was working with a guy who's probably at least one and a half times my weight and is taller than me by at least a foot, and I impressed him with how hard I was hitting the pad. (I haven't forgotten how to hold pads, either.) It felt good to actually hit something, instead of just hitting air, and the THWAP noise it makes when I hit the pad was very satisfying too.

I don't think I'm going to be so sore tomorrow. Or if I am, at least it'll be in different places.