Happy Easter!

(Yes, I'm a sucker for cheezburger.)

We get today AND tomorrow off, so I'm spending Easter cleaning, how exciting and fun is that?! Very necessary, though, I've been a bit of a slob since rehearsals started. Time to get that remedied. And I desperately need to clean my car out. I had to take my bike in to get the tires refilled last week, and it's still sitting in the back of my car, plus my sparring gear, my hard hat for work, and a bunch of the other junk and trash cars accumulate when you practically live in them. My new heavy bag should be coming in this week and I want to be able to pick it up ASAP!

Almost done with the first HSS3 sock - I know, it's taking forever. I'm planning on finishing the sock and starting the second this weekend. I've also been working on the Mountain Colors drop stitch scarf in the evenings after rehearsal, and am almost through the first skein of yarn for that. It's already almost four feet - after finishing this skein, knitting the second, and blocking it, I'll be really interested to see how long it turns out to be!

Dojahng stuff (including black belt testing dates!) behind the cut.
I had my final pre-testing lesson on Thursday and set up a time for my red belt test (Thursday, March 27, so this coming week - new uniforms after this test!). Sir did things a little differently with me this week, though. Usually he has me focus on my form technique during the private classes. This time, we focused on sparring and strategy - putting combinations together and how to figure out what works for my body and style. It was awesome. It's hard for me to practice some of the things we discussed when we spar with the kids, just because of height/strength/mental differences (I don't have to worry about kicks to the head very often in sparring class, for example, only a few of the adults have a chance for that, and kids just don't think about sparring the same way adults do), so it was really great for me to be able to just drill over and over with someone approximately my size and strength. He'd give me a combination, have me work it, then add distractions or fake-outs or height changes to it. SO helpful! Of course, the real test will be Thursday to see if I can retain any of this without actually being able to practice it. Sparring is my weakest area simply because I can't practice it as often as I can everything else. Sir said that when I get my bag, he'll give me some footwork drills for it, but it's not the same and he knows it. Luckily, I actually should be able to hit a bunch of sparring classes around midsummer, which will be nice!

Speaking of summer and martial arts, I got the potential dates for my black belt test!! It will either be Saturday, July 26 or Monday, July 28. They are going to try to do testings on Mondays over the summer, to get around vacations and other summer sports that happen on weekends, but if that doesn't work out, they will move the testings back to Saturdays. Black belts MUST test for rank on an official testing day - you can't do a private test for dan (black belt) rankings, only gup (color belt) rankings - and they just happened to pick a.)a day I ALWAYS have off (Monday) or b.)one of the few Saturdays all year that I have completely off! How's that for fate? (And it's the weekend Godspell closes, so potentially lots to celebrate that weekend. Or lots to cry about, one of the two! =) ) I have a LOT of work to do between now and then!

And I've been invited, as part of the instructor class, to help out with a martial arts demo at the local YMCA on April 12. Normally, I wouldn't be able to do a Saturday afternoon because of rehearsal or matinees, but that one just happens to be Opening Night for Godspell, so as long as nothing tragic happens during the preview the night before, I should have it off. Someone up there is allowing these schedules to blend far better than they really should, and I much appreciate it!

Godspell is going a little slower than the directing team (director, musical director, choreographer) was planning on, I think, but the cast continues to pick things up quickly and have fun with the material. (I'd be happier if they'd stop singing the songs in the halls between classes, though. I really really love this soundtrack, but I'm kind of over having all the songs stuck in my head all day. I don't like the arrangement of "We Beseech Thee" we're doing, though. It feels too pick-up-your-hymnals-and-turn-t0-page-343-Baptist-churchy, and I like the more rock version of it on the 2001 soundtrack much better. Maybe it will sound different with the full band.) There's just so much of it! We have double rehearsals almost all week this coming week, and we move into the theater and start tech a week from this coming Friday! Time is flying by! This week is going to be a long week - we had Friday night off to see Art (it's fabulous, btw, anyone in the area should really go see it), did a double rehearsal yesterday, have today and tomorrow off, then go back into double rehearsals for most of the week. It's almost a summer schedule and no one is used to that during the school year. I'm going to have no idea what day of the week it is!

I've been on a Bones kick lately - watching episodes when I get home from rehearsal at night. I might have to go up to SLO tomorrow to hit Barnes and Noble and pick up some of Kathy Reich's books (the author whose books and life the show is based on). I need a new series, as my usual ones are either all caught up or still in hardcover. I'm too hard on books to pay for hardcovers. Only if I get stuff clean here first, though.

And one of the best puns I've heard in a while: