Test Night - passed

I could go into a lot of detail about the test, but really the important thing was that Teacher doesn't give the belt test until the student is ready. In a way I had already passed and the test just acted as a formalized initiation. Nothing grueling in itself, but the class was tough because, as I thought about it afterword, the whole class was the real test. Thankfully I was on balance and on timing pretty much the whole time.

I was so proud that I didn't get to sleep until 11:30pm. When I came home I forced my wife to listen to me babble for an hour straight. Not that I said anything coherent mind you.

When the class is small Teacher lets us warm up on our own. Last night was very small again so I ran through every kick and punch about three times to make sure my flexibility was there. We used the whole first hour on two-step attacks. I'm not sure what the technical term for this is, but uke throws two of whatever; kick and punch, punch and punch, etc. and then we respond with blocks and counters. I believe I was imaginative with my attacks and responses as well as precise with technique.

The second half of class was on learning some very specific up close techniques that use a shoulder lock (ouch!) and a way to break the balance using the wrist. Very subtle and difficult to pick up, but it made me feel like we were learning some advanced stuff.

The test was brief. Every basic TSD technique many times over and then one kata. No hickups, but kicks to one side could have been better. Again Teacher didn't seem to be focused on that.

So, when I can get my wife to sew it on - I have my second brown tab on my green belt!