Breakfast in Bed

Ahh, Father's Day.

Awoken at 7:30 or so by the sound of my kids' voices, the smell of a fresh mug of coffee, and the delicious aroma of a freshly made cinnamon roll. There are few ways that I can think of that the day could start better -- and none of the other scenarios involve having my kids standing in the bedroom, I can assure you of that. Plus, they brought me my Sunday morning reading, the "Geek Comics" (Best Buy and Circuit City ads) so I got to ogle a bunch of electronics I can't possibly afford just now. Tech porn, I suppose.

Nice.

Next up is breakfast tacos, followed by a little video gaming and then we're heading out to see Cars together. Then at the end of the day we'll be hitting a birthday pool party, so that should round the day out nicely.

My feelings about Father's Day are, well, ambivalent I suppose. I don't have any real memories of great father day observances from when I grew up on which to base how I feel about it. So observing it always feels a bit, well, awkward I suppose (nearly as awkward as that last sentence, but what the hell. It's early, and I'm tired). I feel like, "What did I do to deserve extra attention?" But I'm not complaining -- anything that involves receiving gifts, breakfast in bed and extra hugs and kisses is just fine with me.

Speaking of my father's day gift, it has not yet arrived. But it's a beauty! I wanted something for my Jeep and decided on a new spare tire cover -- the one that came with the Jeep is a big American flag and the slogan "There's only one" and I'm just not a big, flag-waving patriot type of guy. I mean, nothing wrong with it, but it's just not me. I wanted something with a bit of a sense of humor, so I chose this:

Definitely more my style. Should look perfect, on my black Jeep, next to this:

Perrrrrfect.

-=-

While today is Father's Day, yesterday's activities were more or less "all me" as well, to be fair. The kids and I trained at the dojang in the AM, then we did a bit of shopping, after which we headed back to the dojang for the dan promotion ceremony.

The ceremony was cool -- each of the dan members did a form or vignette while Master Nunan read a brief student biography. Then there were a bunch of demonstrations -- some groups forms work (awesome), and a lot of breaking demonstrations (less awesome -- the batch of boards were VERY hard, for some reason, and nearly everyone had trouble breaking them). Then they all put on their blue trimmed dobakhs for the first time and received their midnight blue belts. After that we went and celebrated at one of the dans grandmother's place. Lots of food, plus a little beer, a little wine, a little hot sake, a little cake, and lots of good conversation.

When a student is promoted to dan, their picture is hung on the wall of the dojang. Before yesterday, there were a total of 12 dan portraits at our dojang. 11 students from our school were promoted to dan last night, so we've roughly doubled the dan membership at the dojang. Fantastic stuff. This is the first time I've attended a promotion where peers -- people I've trained alongside and gotten to know quite well -- were being promoted, and it was really very moving. I kept tearing up while I watched, proud of their achievements, proud to have worked with them while they earned this honor, and really inspired to keep plugging away at this art so that one day, my picture can hang on the wall as well.

And I know I can do it. I really do.

Perhaps that's the best thing I've learned in the last 7 months -- I know I can do this. It'll take time, but I've realized that the only thing that can stop me from attaining dan membership is myself, my own fears, my own doubts. Last night, watching friends receive their midnight blue belts and wear their blue trimmed dobakhs for the first time, I realized that I've grown stronger than my own sense of doubt, and I can shut it up when I need to.

I can do this thing.

Mood: Content, inspired
Now Playing: Dixie Chicks, "Taking the Long Way"