Surprise!

I actually won a blog contest!! And I can't wait to get my hands on the yarn! I never win this kind of thing, I'm so stoked! (Okay, so it was a random drawing, so I really had nothing to do with it, but still!)

In other news, is it sad when an eleven-hour, double-show day feels like a "light" day? Wednesday was morning office work, afternoon matinee, kickboxing, evening understudy rehearsal. 14 hours. Thursday was morning matinee, afternoon office work/meetings, evening understudy run. 15 hours. Friday was morning Outreach performance (was asked to go out with them to keep an eye on a certain situation that rears its ugly head occasionally), afternoon office work/meetings, tkd test, evening performance. 15 hours. My mom called around 4:00p on Friday and told me I almost sounded drunk, even though she knew I wouldn't have been drinking at that time - I was so tired I was slurring my words on the phone! Saturday and Sunday were much better, after I'd actually gotten some real sleep. The show has been going pretty well, though, and I haven't gotten slammed into any other walls so far. (Thanks, Matt!) It's so nice to have four days off, though!!

So, I tested for my blue belt Friday and it was probably the worst I've ever done anything there. One should NOT do a physical test when one has only had about twelve hours of sleep over the previous three nights. Sir said my form was solid (complete and total muscle memory, as I really have no recollection of it), but I totally forgot the end of the sparring segment (a jump crescent kick, which I actually kind of like, for a crescent kick), did incorporate sliding and repeat kicks but didn't use any spinning kicks in sparring (no contact sparring is SO much harder than regular sparring), took two kicks to break my board, and when Mrs. S came at me for one of the self-defenses I just stared at her, had absolutely no idea what to do, and apparently defaulted to a Haganah technique instead. I was either partnered with Mrs. S (for sparring and one self-defense) or the other kid who was there, one of the Karate Kids and an orange belt, so he was scared to death of me. So not only am I totally blanking on what moves I should be doing, but I have to remember to really control them because of having a little kid for a partner. (The kids, btw, do not learn takedowns as a general rule for ending self-defense, they are usually taught to break the hold, get some distance, and run. So he was pretty surprised when he hit the mat after a brief telepathic conversation between Sir and I! Poor kid.) The real kicker, and probably the only reason I actually got the belt, was that I had been TEACHING both the self-defenses AND the sparring segment to the rest of my form block earlier that week. So I obviously know them well enough that Sir felt I was capable of helping other people with them, but I just did not have the brain power that day. Mrs. S asked me afterwards if I was okay, which was a little embarrassing, but at least I know they pay attention and care.

Now to finish cleaning and packing because I'm going home for Thanksgiving! It sounds like I'm getting good Chinese food and crashing at my brother's place tomorrow night (he's a night owl like me, my parents are not, and my flight gets in relatively late for them), getting one of my favorite meals ever at my parents' on Tuesday, possibly hanging out with the girls on Wednesday, and then stuffing myself with turkey, pie, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday! Can't wait!