TurboNurse

This will be one of my most random blogs so far.  I just feel like blogging since it's been a while.  Usually when I sit down to the keyboard, I already know what I'm going to write about and in which order I will put it down.  Not this time!  I know I need to write but about what, well I guess we will find out.

I don't remember if I've written on here since I've been on my own.  I have now been on my own for one week and tomorrow, Thursday, will be the start of week 2 of being on my own.  I enjoy it.  It's also very different.  I'm debating now if I want to try to take an admission yet.  The reson behind it is because I want to do an admission on my own before I forget what I learned during orientation. 

I do know for sure I would like some more acuity.  So far my assignments have been easy flip-n-feeds.  Of course now that I said that.........it will be interesting to see what I get tomorrow when I go in.

On Saturday, September 18,  I tested in Tae Kwon Do for my green belt.  It was a really awesome day!  I didn't sleep well the night before thanks to caffiene.  I was so exhausted when I woke up Saturday morning.  It was a miracle I remembered to bring everything with me that I needed to!

There were three people testing for green belt.  John, myself, and a kid from another class.

It started with Mike asking all of us (there were about 15 of us total from white belt up to where we were, yellow belt-green tip) if we were nervous.  I think all of us raised our hands.  He then told us to try to relax.  He said that if he thought that we weren't ready, we wouldn't be there.  Very true.

We started off with our forms/patterns starting from the most basic up to Do San.  As everyone completed the pattern of their level, the were able to go sit off to the side.  The same thing was done for our required kicks.

Our required kicks were a leading leg hook kick, vertical kick (I like this one!  It's like a front snap kick, same chamber, except your target is at a 45 degree angle from you), and a jumping back piercing kick.  This is the one that was causing me the most distress.  I feel like I'm getting better and more confident in my jumping skills but know there is still room to improve.

I messed up a little bit on the required knowledge.  I knew everything I needed to know, I just put it in the wrong order.

Another of our requirements was to reach 120 degrees on the split machine/stretcher.  He wanted us to go as far as we could and I was able to go to 173 degrees!  Next testing my goal is to be at 180 which is not the full splits but very close.

We also had to do the dreaded pushups, squats, and crunch test.  This was the hardest part for me.  We had two minutes to do each individual exercise.  I rocked the squats with 74 in 2 minutes.  I managed 44 full situps in 2 minutes.  It's the pushups that killed me.  He gave us a small dixie cup that is about 2 inches tall and we had to touch our chest down to the cup every time.  Needless to say, I managed 32 or 33 pushups in the 2 minutes.  My required number for all of them was 30.

So now my goals are to do 100 squats in 2 minutes, 50 situps in 2 minutes, and 40 pushups in 2 minutes.  The idea is to be able to do this at the next testing time which is usually every 2-3 months.

My break kick was a jump side piercing kick and I'm so proud of how well I did on this one!  Mike came up to me while I was getting tested for knowledge and told me if I wanted to try breaking 2 boards I could.  My requirement was 1 board.  I hadn't really thought about it before then but decided to go for it!  The worst that would happen is I would go down to one board which was my requirement anyway.  I figured it was worth a shot!

Mr T sets me up on the breaker and helps measure me.  I got myself all set up and BAM! went for it!  I ended up breaking the two boards on my first try!  I was so excited about that!  That was the best part of the whole testing experience for me!

During practice, I always used one board.  We have rebreakable boards and I was using the brown board which I would only break about half the time.  That's why I was so surprised that I broke two real wood boards with my first try!

As we finished up, we all lined up to shake all of the judges hands.  The judges for our testing (colored belt testing) are all black belts in our school.  Mike's was the first hand I shook and what he said to me is still in my mind.  He told me that I was looking very good out there.  That combined with how he said it just totally made my day!  I've been working very hard, giving everything in class and still practicing at home, and to be recognized for improvement like that means a lot to me.

I'm not trying to sound egotistical here but I feel I've finally found a sport that I enjoy from the bottom of my heart and that I am successful at.  It's like finally finding that perfect shoe!  You know, the one that makes your legs look great, feels good on your feet, and just looks really good.  It's perfect.

I know I still have a lot of work to do and lots of room to improve.  I'm looking forward to seeing how far I can take this.

Cross your fingers for me.  I am hopefully going to a tournament in Portales, NM the first weekend in October.  I sureh hope there is competition there for me.  This will be my first tournament since I was a white belt with a broken elbow!

Ki-yap!