Well Lookit' That / Waiting?

So, if you look at my little red belt illustration over yonder, you'll notice it's now got a nice little blue stripe on it. Attended class last night, and at the end of class I was promoted. Yay me! It's amazing how much work a 5" strip of blue electrical tape can represent.

Now it's time to start buckling down and learning my next form, Chil Sung Sahm Rho. Haven't been officially shown it yet, but I've seen it so many times -- and have the videos from the TSDMGK as well -- so I've been doing a bit of side prep to try to get ready for it. Very confusing form -- should be a real challenge to get looking good.

Aside from that, I already know the majority of techniques I'll need to test for 1st gup -- the next 6 months will be dedicated to getting my new form solid and getting all of my previously learned stuff up to the level of performance that is expected of a 1st gup. Lots of work to be done.

I had a thought after class last night, though, about the experience I had during this last test -- how frustrating an experience it was to test under such low energy conditions. How unsatisfying a day it was, in spite of my knowing, absolutely, that I performed well and even met nearly all of my own perfectionist expectations. And it got me thinking about my next test. About how, unless something unexpected happens -- like some new 2nd gups moving in an dtraining with us, perhaps cross-ranking soon -- in 6 months I will be testing with this same group. Actually, that's probably not even true -- if anything, I will be testing with on 2, maybe 3 of them. At least 2 of the kids were simply not ready to test this time around -- and that was after they wre held back form testing for an extra 3 months already. The chances of them really buckling down and getting themselves solid for the 1st gup test -- the test that is commonly believed to be the toughest test a TSDMGK student undergoes until at least their Ee Dan test, some even say until Kodanja -- are realistically slim-to-none.

So, I might be testing with only 1 or 2 kids next time around. No adults, again. This worries me. That test is going to be hard enough as it is -- if I can't rely on the other candidates for energy, it's going to be a miserable experience. And I really don't want that.

So, in the back of my head I've started considering perhaps asking to delay my next test bya few months, so that I can test with the other adults who I will later test for Dan with. This group includes my mom and my buddies Rich, Eric and Mark (hopefully -- he blew his knee out a few weeks ago and needs surgery, but will hopefully be back to training in time to get back on the schedule). I dunno if I can actually make myself wait -- I'm not one to sit and delay when I'm ready to test -- it's hard enough to be patient for 6 months, let alone adding 3 more to the mix. But the thought is there.

Mood: Beat (wind storms last night kept me awake until 3:00)
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