Hurried Catch Up

To those of you who follow this blog it's no surprise that I've fallen behind on posts.  I honestly haven't had too much to write about, but I got kind of beat up in class last night and there is never a bad time to post bruise pictures.

To be forearmed is to be forewarned

I don't remember getting mauled like for several years now.  There was point where I was bruising all the time, but that eventually went away around the time I finished up my green belt.  The other strange thing is that these are red.  Who ever heard of red bruises?  The barely seen one on my hand is actually the aubergine of a nice one developing.   

If anyone ever did a development curve of the stages of martial skill acquisition I'd be the first person to help out with the name of the various stages.   I know that around the green belt the repetition of basics was mind numbing; the endless plateau of never feeling like you are learning stuff, but knowing that you'll pick things up in the end.

Then there's this point where I learn something new and it puts all my basic learning into a new light.  This happens periodically; usually when I develop an insight in some move or technique.  The end result is that I feel like a beginner again, but one that can do everything moderately well.

What I'm trying to say is that I've been a Black Belt for awhile and I feel like I'm experiencing both of those stages at once.  Everything is repetitious, but I also see it in a new light which ends up making me feel like I'm starting over again.  Is there some point where you feel like you have mastery?  Or, at least, less incompetence?
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Since the class has been small, as of late Teacher has been focusing on really complex technique which is challenging to us all, but fun and intellectually gripping.