Maybe Not Awake, But Alert

There is finally a little light!  Even though I got woke up a few times by my wife during the night, I woke up refreshed.  Although I was sleepy there was a subtle difference.  I wasn't disoriented.  I could tell my attitude was very positive as I walked out the door.  Whoop!

Today we did partner drills again, but with a slight change.  I was permanently a defender and Bill just attacked each time, instead of a back and forth.  The whole session went by very quickly and then we did it with Ho shin sul.  It was awesome.  However, Andy watched us the whole time and found four items to correct.  Tough stuff since I'm so close to the testing, but they were pretty good to know.      

After those we ran through an In Neh session.  In Neh mean endurance.  For the test I have to do at least 120 punches in 30 seconds.  I've been averaging 120 so I would qualify, but I rather be safer with a high rate.  Today I got a 140!  I thought Bill wasn't watching the clock or something.  Thirty seconds was beginning to feel like a very long time.  Whoop!

We spent the rest of the class working on Bill's version of Ill soo sik.  He's working on Sam soo sik.  I would attack with three strikes and he back up doing various blocks followed by a kick.  Andy kept saying, "you'll get to do these soon...."  I can't wait!  

Notes

• bend front knee deeper in prep for kick
• chicken wing has three steps.  The first breaks the grip
• double chop left is the lower one. Also cast the hands farther back
• left hand scoop gets a hip prep and lift the hands farther up.
• Knee in the guts before the twister.  How could I have forgotten that?

 

Befuddled

I can't understand how exhausted I am.  I slept 8 hours and by rights I should be absolutely golden.  However today I was stumbling around like a drunk on a three bender.  Even after half a day has gone by, I'm finding it hard to think straight.  This morning was a train wreck.  I tried to warm up and couldn't remember anything in order.  I left coffee on the counter and had to go up and down the steps because I would forget keys, then wallet, etc.

I got to class and couldn't warm up well.  Just light stretching was about all I could manage. We were going to work on techniques today and thankfully started with Ho shin sul.  I gather now that I can do that in my sleep.  When we went to Il soo sik my brain ceased functioning all together.  Small details derailed progress almost immediately.  In ISS the first two techniques have a timing pattern.  I'm struggling to remember to do this every time.  After that the timing is just 1-2-3-4.  But I mess up and then I mess up over again.  Grrr.

I thought that things were going well after that, but my mind kept drifting or blanking out to be more specific.  That would throw things off pretty frequently.  After we got through that, Bill and I practiced working on his techniques and then time ran out.  I'm not even sure what happened at this point.  

I hope I wake up some time~

Monday Night Quarterback

Bill is out for a few days, so Colette was looking for help for the class before ours.  I normally show up to try to help, but the chaos of the class doesn't make for it easy for me to help so well.  Colette has goals for each group and I'm not always on the same page.  That happened a bit last night.  I was working with the white belts, and we were doing well I thought.  Between classes she told me not have them practice the first form.  They needed to be better at blocks.  Whoops!

The Dan class consisted of me and Jack, the ten-year-old candidate.  Me and him will be testing at the same time, but he gets an abbreviated test due to his age.  Lucky him.  It'll happen for his second degree as well.  Lucky boy.

Colette had a conflict, so Andy took over and Mr. Moore just hung out.  We ran through each of our forms three times in an attempt to sync our movements.  Jack moves a bit faster than me, so I had to hustle a bit.  But by the third run through of each we were mostly on the same page.

We'd started class by running through the basics.  This is usually abbreviated to conserve time, but since it was just us two Andy ran through the whole course.  That was nice and a great warm up.  I also wasn't completed exhausted.  Unlike the kicking drills which followed our forms.  I thought I did well, especially since Jack and me were moving quickly.  But by the time we stopped I was huffing pretty good and fairly soaked. It's nice to see that my cardio appropriate to the work seems to be good.  

We chatted a bit about the test and Jack attempted to do a break but the contraption that holds the board fell apart.  That was pretty awesome.  More than likely due to my bad attempts on Saturday.  Whoops. 

Run Through

I met up with Bill on Saturday and we decided to run through the whole test.  We got through it in about an hour and half.  There were three minor mistakes in ho shin sul and probably the same amount in the ill soo sik.  The kick went terrible though.  I set the target up too high and was not targeting very well.  One too high and one too low.  Boy that stung.  We lowered the target holder a few inches and I was golden.  I definitely have to remember that!

After we finished up, I kept thinking that we missed something.  We sorted out a few things in the forms and we were heading out the door when Colette showed up.  We went through the exam, and she pointed out that we missed sparring!  The stuff we've been working on the whole last week.  Whoops!

The Region still hasn't found me a partner for the exam, but Colette didn't think much of it.  She said they'd grab somebody at the Shim Sa.  I hope that's true, because I don't things are going to work with me and a four-foot kid.  

I got to try on a dobok top to take a look at fit.  It feels like I'm getting closer!  

Teaching And Such

It's Friday!  The week has been long, and my practice seems fractured, but progressing as well as it can be.  The class focus hasn't always been where I want it, but it's good to keep moving and trying to draw what I can from the work at hand. Thankfully I'll get to work out with Bill tomorrow and see how things go.  I'd like to run through my test again and see how it goes.  

Today was fast again.  We started with add-on basics.  There was eight of us and one person at the end of the line picks a move, and for each iteration we add a new move from the next person in the line. At the end of eight additions, it can get quite complicated.  But it does warm me up!

Friday is traditionally forms day, as I'm starting to learn, so I wasn't caught off guard.  I got up astoundingly early and went through all my techniques because I hadn't remembered that Friday was forms.  Either way it was all good.

I ended up working with the Doctor and her daughter.  The daughter is a teen and has a tendency to wonder off when I get too boring.  I must be horrible because I only speak for like two minutes.  Hah!

---

I was notified that I need to take a picture for my files for the test.  They want you in a dobok top (in my case an old karate gi).  I had Mr. Moore take the photo.  I look like an unmade bed.  High-def isn't my friend.  

I was notified that I'm the only adult trying for my Cho Dan at the test.  The rest of the field are kids.  It's bound to look humorous, so Colette is hustling to find me a partner.  I hadn't realized that the kids only have to do odd techniques whereas I do both odd and even.  Hah, doesn't seem fair.  But they can't place me with them during the test because I'm way to bigl  Hopefully one of the other schools will help me out.

Round Robin

We had a sudden drop in temperature last night which meant that I had to spend extra time scraping the windows before I could get out of the driveway.  I hate being off my schedule, but I still showed up early.  

Andy is no longer using his zimmer frame (walker) and is using a cane at the moment.  He still can't do much, so our new warmups were run by Bill.  It was just the basic Moo Do block/evade/move/punch.  

We went right into partner drills.  Because of the odd numbers I was partnered with the Doctor and Bill.  I was working on ho shin sul, bill was working on his version and the Doctor was working on the backend of the techniques.  Apparently lower belts work in reverse order?  Hard to tell.

It was fun to play teacher and Andy helped off and on.  The only part of note was that the Doctor is about a foot shorter than me so techniques where I have to get under the shu's arm are veeerrry difficult.  I'm so used to working with Bill (who is my height) that I'd forgotten I'd have to adjust so dramatically.  Plus, she has very flexible wrists so it's hard to know how much pressure to apply in the wrist locks.  

The class went so fast that it felt like we didn't get very far.  I only got through about ten techniques before I had to sprint out of there.  I was still late to my first meeting, eek.

29 days and trying to pay attention to that

I figured with all the effort yesterday that I'd be ready for a really decent night of sleep.  I got to sleep right away but ended up waking off and on throughout the night.  It always makes the night feel so long and not in a good way.  

It's nice to be back on the schedule though.  Wednesday is the start of my morning classes at the school, and I like the regularity it forces in my life.  All my friends know that I'm going to head out early (at social functions during the week) so I can get to bed early.  I love it.  I can get the coffee ready and set up my gi/dobok and put things in their place.  Sounds like an OCD dream!

When I do my warmup in the morning I like to run through my trouble spots. This morning I had a lot of problems remembering things.  I was concerned because I hadn't been practicing at home due to the work here.  However once we got going at class I when right through Ho Shin Sul and did fairly good with Ill Soo Sik.  I have to areas on the ISS that need work, but I got through both (with Bill) within 25 minutes.  A new record for me.  Whoop!

It's officially 29 days till the exam.  Eek! We received the official schedule for the event yesterday and I found out that the oral exam is on the Friday.  The day before the Shim Sa (the test).  I confirmed that this morning, so I was a bit confused.  I assumed they asked those questions after all the physical stuff to see how you'd do while you're wiped out.  I guess not!  

Sooo Tired

House deconstruction is hitting a fevered pitch.  I'm removing the old floor coverings from the upper floor in our home which desperately needed a refresh.  Tile, mortar, carpets, you name it and I've done the work pulling, scraping, and cutting to remove it.

My wife and I finally settled on a new flooring that's going into the halls, living room and the kitchen.  We've been moving along for the last couple of weeks getting it all taken out.  My wife got the opportunity to go over to Hawaii for a week, so the work was settling on me for the kitchen/dining room.  I have learned that contractors tend to add linoleum on top of old layers instead of pulling old stuff out.  It's simply faster which means less money to the owners.  I'm currently a week and half into the removal and it gets harder and harder.  The kitchen has a sandwich of three layers of linoleum and an 1/4 inch of plywood.  Saws and muscle work forever.  It's exhausting.  

Mixing this in with beatings is a bit of a challenge.  Relaxed practice isn't going on at the moment.  Whenever I have spare time, I'm working on the house and trying to squeeze in daily practice is relegated to class time and a bit here and there during off days.  Mostly I just want to sit down and sleep.  

As I get closer to the exam (which is now thirty days away!) I'd prefer to be working on Ill soo sik, but Colette wants me to be working on other things.  In the last week the focus has been on sparring.  I'm not saying that I don't need to refine it, but because it's such a small part of the exam I would think the focus would be less.  Still fun though.

Last night I got there early and helped out with the all-belt class. This can be exhausting because there are usually fifteen folks of all ages there. They are broken into groups and working on the appropriate forms or skills.  

After they left our Dan level class worked on new warmups and then sparring.  I like what they are saying, but my sparring partner is a ten-year-old who is as big as my leg.  I would aim a kick at him from fairly far away and he would dutifully dodge and come diagonally and punch at my midsection.  Then start giggling at the ridiculousness of it all.  Honestly, it was a lot of fun and fairly helpful for me to get moving in the right direction.  

Stolen from the webz.  Not that much of a difference, but close.

Another night of hard sleep, but never feels like enough.  

Teacher Lite

There wasn't a picture with a man and two women that didn't look way out of line.

I have mentioned in the past that teaching isn't necessarily the most enjoyable thing for me, but that's related working with children.  I try to be supportive and entertaining and that only works for so long.  I actually enjoying working with adults because you can usually make swift changes and it's mutually beneficial.

There are two red belts in class who are potentially getting ready for the big exam, but I didn't see them on the list for April.  I approached them after we warmed up a bit with some basics and were told by Andy (he's back!  And with a walker) that we were going to do some forms.  I asked if they'd like to work with me since we're doing all the same forms.  Just as I did that Andy says, "you read my mind".  I had a moment of panic realizing that I might have broken protocol.

He didn't seem to mind so we spent the day working through the three.  I was able to discuss the reasons to why the order of forms was the way it was (thanks Bill!) while Andy was nearby listening in.  So yeah!  He was very supportive.

---

Bill had called me last night with hopes that we could work on Ill soo sik today since I'm having some questions emerge, but Colette really wants to work on sparring instead.  I asked Bill if my sparring skills were bad, and he said I was fine.  Or, at least, it wasn't a big concern because it was such a small piece of the exam, and I was perfectly fine for that.  We had planned to ask to work on ISS instead of sparring.  When Andy showed up and made it a regular Friday our clever plan got sidelined.  

So, we made our normal plan to meet tomorrow (Saturday) so I can sort out my questions (One sorted today.  On ISS six the shu [attacker] has to switch to open stance), but Andy lets us know they've approached Nik to come and work on sparring.  Sigh.  I gather he's rather nervous about that and they want to address it.  I'm hoping that we don't have to focus on it too much and I can work on ISS.  

Knowing how things go, it'll probably get changed.  Hah.

Moo Do Sparring

One part of the belt exam is sparring.  It's not much of a big deal to me since I've become accustomed to it over the years.  I don't have much of an adrenaline response anymore which makes thinking on my toes a little easier, but I worry about my fitness.  The test has two one-minute rounds, but Bill says that it'll be flexible depending on time.

Today in class Colette wanted to introduce us to Moo Do sparring.  Instead of point sparring, which is the standard at most tournaments, Soo Bahk Do wanted to focus on a couple things in its version. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get this correct but here are a few items:

-  moving out of the way of things means that you respect that attack.  When the head of SBD took in regular point sparring, he noticed that folks don't normally take the attack seriously.  So, points in MD sparring include taking proper distance and evasion.  Knowing that a kick or attack could seriously take you out.

- combinations are key.  When I was sparring with Bill, I could do two before his evasion and response.  Fun, but planning ahead wasn't great on my part beyond two moves.

- the match is five twenty second rounds.  Fantastic speed and a tendency to be linear, but the space was really small.

We watched a few short movies of two of the upper-level practitioners go after it. They definitely have great combos and miss each other by a few inches.  Yikes!  But I was able to work that into my attacks.  But I'm so slow that Bill didn't have any problems dodging me.  Hah!

      

Innovation Breaks Stability

Separating the wild horse's mane

I love Wushu/Kung Fu moves that have their name derived from what the move looks like.  'Brushing the horse's mane' and stuff like that.  Today class didn't have the classy names, but Colette decided that we need to try something a little interesting when I'm totally focused on rote repetition of moves.  Makes things tough, but interesting.

We have two sets of basic moves, Ho Shin Sul and Ill soo sik.  The former is wrist locks and how to break them and flow into a reversal that include punches and kicks.  The latter is considered one step sparring which is based on an opponent throwing a punch.  This is followed by blocks and responding punches and kicks.

I'd done this once before with Andy and had forgotten how he approached it.  I thought we started with the wrist grab and then moved to the sparring combos.  So Bill and I went that route and practice how to follow up from one exercise to another.  

At one point Colette want to see some demos of what we put together and picked me and Bill. Clearly, we got it wrong. She just had me attack and then use a wrist lock and following moves.  I got the idea and was able to two poorly executed combos and then had to high tale it to get to work.  I wasn't with it this morning.

---

Saturday's session with Bill - I got an hour in and we went through HSS and ISS pretty good, so I asked to go through kicking drills.  I'm still confused with a few of the kicks names.  Apparently, that's universal hah!

Monday night class - Mr. Moore is still running class, but no more masks at least.  We found out that Andy is back, but doing basic rehab after the knee replacement.  

It's strange to see everyone's faces.  I'm self-conscious because my face seems over the top expressive to me.  And I'm hopeful that we don't fall back into another round of a new variant, but based on the last couple of years we should probably have two weeks before lock down again.  Hah!

Leaders Down

On Wednesday, two days ago, Andy went in for knee replacement surgery.  He's still there due to diabetes complications.  I find it worrisome because I don't know if it's normal or not.  He's wife, Colette, is spending a lot of time there so she wasn't able to come down to class this morning.  There was a heart with a "Senior, please lead" on the message board, so Mr. Moore took over again.

Since I had arrived early again this morning, he and I had talked a bit. He's working on his Trainers certification and was sorting out warmups.  It was pretty good when we lined up.  He kept to simple mobility and worked the whole body.  For the basics he did the elementary ones so we could all do the same thing.  Very nice.  The rest of the class was forms.

At one point, one of the other students tapped my shoulder for assistance on one of the forms she was learning.  I'm always excited to do this kind of thing for an adult.  Helping and learning to help better.  

One of my worst problems is to try to fix everything at once.  There is definitely an art to when you should bring up the things to fix.  The doctor (my name for her) was working on nihanshi cho dan and I just had to show her the second half.  I managed to shut up about everything else other than the moves.  I was very proud of myself.  I realize that my rush to correct everything is just a way to show off about "how much I know".  Realizing that has helped me most of the time.  

Back to work with Bill tomorrow for our Saturday training session.

  

Box Checked

Today I got to take my closed book test.  It's one of the final preparatory pieces towards my midnight blue belt (aka black belt) exam.  From now on it's just working on techniques and so forth.  Slight relief, but Colette ran me through the wringer shortly after on one step sparring.  I was very challenged, and I kept making mistakes.

I got to class extremely early.  I woke up way early, signed into work and got caught up and then did my warmups and had some coffee on top of that.  I still got to the school earlier than Mr. Moore.  We all hung out until Colette came down.  She's a night person so she wasn't totally awake for us, but she did a great job of getting to work.  

I thought I wasn't going to do the test because Colette was going through the assignments, but I she asked me if I was ready and when I said yes, she set up a little desk and gave me a pen and test sheet.  Just one page and one side.  I finished in about fifteen minutes and got an 80% unofficially.  I missed some items for the belt meanings.  Phooey.  

Then it was on to Il Soo Sik and ran through it twice as the fellows ran through it with me.  I would stay in place and then had the four others go against me as quickly as they could.  As I mentioned before I was getting confused more often than not.  Shot my confidence down quite a bit, but I was pleased that I kept myself together and got through it.

Refinement

Andy and Colette were out this morning since she had to take him to surgery today.  He's getting a new knee which still boggles my mind.  I'm not sure what kind of pain management he has, but he's been bone on bone for a long time and still jumps around fairly well for seventy years old.

Mr. Moore is the most senior student of the class, so he led things even though he's not a Jo Kyo Nim (basic instructor), but it wasn't a big deal because we were doing partner drills.  With six of us in attendance we lined up with our normal training buddies and got cracking.

Bill and I got through the Ho Shin Sul fairly fast now that I have them down.  What a feeling of relief since it seems like the test is around the corner.  He practiced his level version, which is based on a sleeve grab.  Even with that confusion I didn't lose track.  Yeah!

We moved on to Ill Soo Sik (one step sparring) and managed to get about halfway before I had to go.  I'm still stumbling on some stance items.  On six, eleven and twelve I'm supposed to switch stances.  That confuses me still.  I've got forty days to refine that and other pieces.  

Tomorrow or Friday should be the closed book test.  I'm anxious to get that out of the way since it's something I need to refer back to keep fresh.  

Jumping Turning Back Kick

Whoop!

Not to jump the shark, but this was a small, but mighty piece of last night's work.  

Bill and I met on Saturday and had a long practice.  I am slowly, but surely coming along on my comfort with all the different pieces of the exam and can see different spots that need work.  One of those pieces is the break.  In the video you can see the the rack. The rack on the wall holds the piece steady.  We have a pile of break-a-way boards of various strengths so one can see how much energy they need to use.  

In my home practice, I started kicking pillows while I got the dynamics of the kick squared away.  I moved up to kicking a cardboard box with a target on it so I could make sure that I was hitting the right spot.  On Saturday Bill had me use a break-a-way for the first time on my Ee dan dwi cha gi, which is the Korean for a jumping turning back kick.  I was successful, albeit a bit nervous because the target area is fairly modest compared to my foot.  

At the end of class last night Colette was asking me about the practice, but I made sure that she knew that I had not used wood on the kick.  This was in hopes that I'd get another chance at the kick.  I was given size options which I'm not sure I understand fully.  I went with the 12" because it looked easier target wise, but the inference was that it would be more difficult.  Then they gave me to two stacked!  Bill and I set up the wall dummy and I did the kick without any difficulty, but when we reviewed the video my floor foot really should come up into the tucked position, but she said I cleared five inches or so and that was all that was needed.  I'll practice that some more so it's good.

Earlier in the evening I took an allergy pill not realizing that it wasn't the non-drowsy kind. By the time we were lining up I was swaying a bit.  I didn't openly yawn, but I was working hard to concentrate on the upcoming Sunday training for trainers. The school wants to standardize all the training methods, so students all get the same info no matter the source.  I don't know if I want to become a trainer necessarily, but extra training sounds good especially with my wife gone for the week.  That means I won't be pulled into different directions with housework and still trying to get some beatings in. 

Finally, I have a timeslot for the closed book test!  It's most likely going to be on Thursday morning during class.  Both Andy and Colette are going to be out because of Andy's knee replacement.  But I'll practice my test at home today just to make sure there isn't some kind of surprise tomorrow.  

 

Good Head Space

My ability to remember the Ho shin sul remained this morning.  I was pretty happy because last night I couldn't.  The more the day goes by, the more difficult it gets to remember. I'm pretty sure it's a head space issue where I can't shift gears quickly.

Class this morning was half of basics to warm up and then work on forms.  I ran through my three about six times each.  

I remember this place in my development in my other schools.  Just before testing (or presentation), I become slightly bored of doing something over and over again.  The gains have dropped almost to nothing, so I fight against boredom knowing that I need to keep up the practice.  Today I stopped for a second to watch the guys who are ahead of me by six months do one of the next forms.  The form they were practicing was more fluid and Tai Chi like.  No sweat development there.  

Amazingly I was well exercised by my repetitive work so when I had to go, I felt good about the day.  I like the feeling of being pushed or stretched physically to give me the sensation that I worked.  Intellectual challenge is good but leaves me feeling lacking.

As I was bowing out Andy said I looked ready to go.  That's a feel good for sure!  I know I'm janky in a few things, but that'll be refined in the next two months.      

Good Day? Great Day!

I've been getting up earlier than the alarm so I can sign into work way earlier than usual, so I don't feel rushed coming from beatings.  I have to leave class early so I can get to my first meeting on time, and I usually feel rushed to catch up.  No more!  I get my email and messages all squared away while doing jumping jacks and pushups.  After that I can go on to whatever warmups I need to focus on.

I've been mostly focused on the ho shin sul.  I'm practicing twice a day and this morning I remembered the whole thing!!  And mind you, this was done while I was barely awake.  I'm very proud.  

I got to class, and it was back to partner drills. But we went back to il soo sik.  Andy decided to throw a twist in by making me do them in reverse.  Gads!  That was a complicated to say the least.  We didn't quite make it all the way through, but I did have a good time correcting some errors.  

I hope the rest of the day goes this well.

Progress On HSS

Stolen form the interwebz.  And it would be cool if we had a technique that started like this.

Will wonders never cease!  This morning I was able to make it through fourteen of fifteen Ho shin sul (HSS) techniques! As I've mentioned before HSS is considered self-defense. It's based around someone grabbing your wrists in every way possible and then you lock their wrists and respond with a strike. It's a big deal for me since I've been unable to get these down for many months.  I guess practicing them several times a day is finally starting to settle in my brain.

I think the success was due to the gaps in me and Bill's work.  He was working on his level of HSS so I had a moment to think in between and that was enough for me to be ready.  I was also well rested and clear-headed.  I just have to remember at test time.

Andy and Bill are rightly focused on technique, but I'm focused on what technique am I even doing!  It's coming together though and I'm feeling good for today.

Here's my mental cheat sheet:

• Pancake
• Chop
• Legal
• Baseball bat

• elbow to elbow
• Open book
• Oreo
• Aikido

• Hop Skip
• Sudo to Patch
• Chicken Wing

• Double chop
• Figure 4
• Oreo 2
• Drop Pop Chicken wing

While typing these down I forgot one, but in a different place, hah!

We got a few Il soo sik (ISS) in before I left for work, and it's been a few weeks since I've worked on those.  I immediately got confused, but we got six out of the way.  Hopefully I'll get the rest worked on in the next few days.

Note: I turned in all my Dan test paperwork yesterday!  Whoop!

Plans Derailed But, Protocol Prevails

Stolen from web

Best laid plans and all that.

Bill and I had planned to work on kicking drills and Ho Shin Sul in last night's class, but we hadn't cleared that with the Sa bam nims.  So, we ended up doing an absolutely grinding session of basics.  Normally basics are a great warm up and progressively get harder.  Last night was tough based on the fact that we had a room full of different leveled people.  So, we all had to stop regularly for corrections and instructions.  Which meant standing around in a front stance for longer periods.  Great for leg strength, but just wearing if done for forty-five minutes.  

After we finished the basics (blessed relief!).  Bill and I finally got to line up to work on kicking drills, but it went pretty sour fast.  Even the teachers laugh about the fact that they all think they are one doing it the "right way".  Things tend to get confusing for the student if you have several leaders telling you it's one way or the other.  They go books and videos to sort it out, but by that time we've lost ten minutes. In the end we didn't get far.  It's times like this that I miss Keith so much.  He was very definitive about what was correct.  

Today is a blessed day off.  I would normally take lunch to run through the test, but I'm physically wrecked by the efforts of the last week.  I'll run through Ho shin sul to see if it sticks better.  Maybe a written practice test.  

Colette told me that I can take my closed book test any time before the 12th.  Just a couple of weeks, but I think I can do it sooner.  I can also turn in all my forms today.  

She also told me that she has to work out details for the physical test.  Since they haven't worked on a transfer (from Tang Soo Do to Soo Bahk Do) before they have to work it out with the higher ups. 

This comes down to:

• Where do I stand in the line up?
• Which belt do I wear?
• Which dobok do I wear?

The lineup is very protocol rich.  Newer students are at one end.  Am I a new student?  That's a complicated question.  If you just count my time at the local school, then I started in May.  But if you count me as a transfer, I might have started in 2011. This also feeds into a Bon number.  As soon as you get your midnight blue belt you get registered.  I currently have a student number, but that doesn't transfer to the bon.  If we line up on student numbers, then I'll be at the very end.  If we line up on bon numbers, then I'll be somewhere else.  Very confusing stuff!

I have two black belts.  One from way back in the from my TSD days.  I have it in a rack.  It's not very impressive and doesn't have any stitching on it.  The one I wear is from my Karate school.  High quality and has script in Japanese on both ends.  My name on one and Shudokan on the other.  I'm not sure which one I'll be wearing or if they'll give me a borrower, so I'll fit in better.

Finally, the gi or dobok.  Will I be wearing my generic gi or will I need to wear a top with red trim?  I hope Colette doesn't get brain lock sorting all of this out.