The day the music died and other misc

There is no knitting content in this post, other than me saying now that I've recruited another over to the dark side with the SRSP sweater. She's doing pedi-socks now, but somehow sweaters are too hard. Hah! We'll see about that!

Anyway, the majority of this post is skipable to those who only come for knitting. The rest of you have been warned! =)
Monday, I accidentally sent my beloved Sony Walkman mp3 player through the wash, zipped up in a side pocket of one of my workout shirts. I'd like to point out that the first time I did this (don't ask), it still worked afterwards. This time, not so much. After much swearing, grumbling, and general whining at myself for being so stupid, I dug into my savings account (I cannot play, work, exercise or live without music. Period.) and bought this. It came today. It is So Freaking Cool! You can...well, if you're curious, you can follow the link, otherwise I'll talk about it all day. The only thing I can't really do with it is swim, of course. They seriously need to make one of those soon!

I also got my hair chopped off yesterday. I kept telling the lady I wanted it shorter and shorter, mostly in the hope of finally being able to keep it out of my face during class. She kept giving me disbelieving looks. I told her I wanted it to be short enough that it wouldn't get in my face when I was working out. She told me I could always clip it back and stopped somewhere between my chin and the bottoms of my ears, and then proceeded to style it in a way so that it would fall right in my eyes! At that point, I politely told her thank you, pointedly shoved all my hair back out of my eyes (she looked a little shocked), paid, and left. Luckily, it is a style that I can keep out of my face mostly with a short ponytail or a cloth headband. I just really don't feel comfortable with metal barretts in my hair during class. I didn't think it really looked that different, other than actually looking styled and taking a bit of length off, but I got tons of comments on it today. I was hoping to sucker someone into taking a picture today, since I was wearing SRSP, and make up, and generally looked fairly cute (I think, anyway) at work today, but I forgot the camera. Sigh.

Sir taught me my new board break last night. (Yay, going twice a week! Yay!) It's a palm strike. Thank goodness. I was half-afraid he'd want me to do a knife-strike again. I'd try the knife-strike again, of course, but I'm just as happy with this one. We just practiced on targets last night - we usually do the first time we're learning a new break - and he had me demonstrate for New White Belt after I had learned it. I also worked with NWB a little on the form when the instructors were busy and I could see he looked a little lost. It does help me to help other people. I have to think more carefully about each move. I'm kind of curious to see how hard one of the orange belts hits after watching her form the last night - she tends to flail and wiggle a lot. While everyone else is trying for smooth, powerful moves, with varying degrees of success, she looks like she's on the dance floor at a school dance. I know, that's competitive and egotistical of me. Honest, though. I was partnered with Ma'am last night (she participates in class but doesn't teach on Wednesdays, apparently), which was a lot of fun. A butt-kicking, to be sure, but fun. She inspires me. I want to be able to kick like her. Anyone know some drills to help build up kicking power/technique? Oh, and I thought of a perfect place to practice my form. I'm kicking myself (no pun intended) for not thinking of it sooner. A rehearsal room. Duh. A big open place with mirrors. And I have keys to all of them. The trick will be to find a mirrored room not in use by students as they prepare for final projects.

Oh, and I'm saying this here so I have something to be accountable to. I'm temporarily giving up chocolate (except chocolate milk, trail mix, and the rest of the granola bars I have in this box). I've stocked up on some individual-sized fresh fruit and veggie goodies, and I am still allowing myself sweets, just not anything with chocolate. Given the pickiness of my diet, this should cut out a lot of unnecessary junk! My goal is not to lose weight, but to tone up. I honestly don't think I'm overweight or anything, but I do think I could be in better shape, and I think my activity level is pretty good at this point. Now I want to really focus on fueling that activity level better than I have been.