February OMFG
Feb. 29th, 2020 06:38 pmFebruary was such a nightmare but it is wrapping up well.
I had a root canal, my first ever, on Feb 6. While the procedure itself wasn't too complicated and not at all uncomfortable, there were some issues for the rest of that week, including general aches & soreness and infection. Neither complications were unexpected --I had been given the literature and a prescription for amoxycillin at the endodontist's office-- but it wasn't pleasant.
And the following day, I was whisked off to the Advanced & Challenge square dance event in DC that DC Lambda Squares hosts every year. Sadly, this is the last: the old team is burnt out, and there aren't any obvious folks stepping forward to run the show. And it has typically lost $1-2k per year, so the club is deciding to cut its losses.
I danced as much as I could while feeling somewhat off, but I spent most of Saturday in the hotel room: I was too sick to do much, felt utterly exhausted, and the ache in my jaw & sensitivity in the root canal tooth made eating unbearable. Most of that weekend is simply a blur.
Mercifully, that Presidents' Day Monday was a company holiday so I could catch up on sleep.
I was supposed to have a karate belt test the following week, but knowing I would be travelling to California for business, I had made arrangements for my test to be the upcoming Thursday. But in my exhausted & severely weakened state, I knew I couldn't do it: I could barely summon the energy to walk to the dojo.
Still, I went on Wednesday and Thursday, driving rather than walking, just so I could keep abreast of any tips or suggestions for my eventual test, and to reinforce the habit of attending.
At the Thursday class, I apologized to Sensei that I wasn't physically able to test that night as we had previously agreed. He said that it wasn't a problem, he knew I had everything down cold, and we could do a full test when I got back from Canada in early March. And with that, we began the regular beginner class.
He had the white belts rehearse their kata, and had me work mine, we did some kick and punching drills which we would be performing for our tests, and so on. For my belt test, I'd have to perform eight kata; this night, I could do all eight but I needed a couple minutes of rest between each to get my energy back.
The white belts were going to be doing side kicks for their formal board-breaking ceremony as part of the belt graduation. My cohort would be doing flying side-kicks: run at the target, leap in the air, rotate the hips and pull back the knee of the kicking leg towards the gut, then extend the leg cleanly forward with a burst of energy, striking the target point with the blade/heel of the foot. Oh, then land with at least some dignity on the other foot.
The drills were exhausting: I wasn't so much running as briskly walking. Still, it was a new move for me, and a pretty damn exciting one at that. It's a freaking flying side kick... how cool is that?!
Finally, as we were about to end the class, he pulled over two white belts. Each was to hold firmly one side of the board, a hand on each corner, keeping the board facing out at chest level. And I was ordered to break the board with the newly learned flying side kick.
If I had more energy, I could have delivered that at head level, but chest level was fine: I hit it squarely and broke the board on the first try. The white belts were suitably relieved.
And Sensei handed me my brown belt: I had passed the test, perhaps not with the best energy, but I did the work. Being tested without knowing I was being tested was actually a great kindness: I was able to focus on doing well what I could do, rather than trying to do everything to perfection and berating myself for not being at 100%.
I was also shocked how relieved I was when this was all done. I had been carrying a huge amount of stress about so many things coming up, as well as tasks delayed & accumulating. Finally, I had a major task which was done & finished, and I needed that particular victory to help me get through the coming storm.
I regret I didn't get photos or video of that board break, and the guys couldn't attend the graduation (because we didn't know it would be a graduation), but there will be others.
And with that done, I went home for too few hours of sleep before flying to San Francisco the following morning.
I had a root canal, my first ever, on Feb 6. While the procedure itself wasn't too complicated and not at all uncomfortable, there were some issues for the rest of that week, including general aches & soreness and infection. Neither complications were unexpected --I had been given the literature and a prescription for amoxycillin at the endodontist's office-- but it wasn't pleasant.
And the following day, I was whisked off to the Advanced & Challenge square dance event in DC that DC Lambda Squares hosts every year. Sadly, this is the last: the old team is burnt out, and there aren't any obvious folks stepping forward to run the show. And it has typically lost $1-2k per year, so the club is deciding to cut its losses.
I danced as much as I could while feeling somewhat off, but I spent most of Saturday in the hotel room: I was too sick to do much, felt utterly exhausted, and the ache in my jaw & sensitivity in the root canal tooth made eating unbearable. Most of that weekend is simply a blur.
Mercifully, that Presidents' Day Monday was a company holiday so I could catch up on sleep.
I was supposed to have a karate belt test the following week, but knowing I would be travelling to California for business, I had made arrangements for my test to be the upcoming Thursday. But in my exhausted & severely weakened state, I knew I couldn't do it: I could barely summon the energy to walk to the dojo.
Still, I went on Wednesday and Thursday, driving rather than walking, just so I could keep abreast of any tips or suggestions for my eventual test, and to reinforce the habit of attending.
At the Thursday class, I apologized to Sensei that I wasn't physically able to test that night as we had previously agreed. He said that it wasn't a problem, he knew I had everything down cold, and we could do a full test when I got back from Canada in early March. And with that, we began the regular beginner class.
He had the white belts rehearse their kata, and had me work mine, we did some kick and punching drills which we would be performing for our tests, and so on. For my belt test, I'd have to perform eight kata; this night, I could do all eight but I needed a couple minutes of rest between each to get my energy back.
The white belts were going to be doing side kicks for their formal board-breaking ceremony as part of the belt graduation. My cohort would be doing flying side-kicks: run at the target, leap in the air, rotate the hips and pull back the knee of the kicking leg towards the gut, then extend the leg cleanly forward with a burst of energy, striking the target point with the blade/heel of the foot. Oh, then land with at least some dignity on the other foot.
The drills were exhausting: I wasn't so much running as briskly walking. Still, it was a new move for me, and a pretty damn exciting one at that. It's a freaking flying side kick... how cool is that?!
Finally, as we were about to end the class, he pulled over two white belts. Each was to hold firmly one side of the board, a hand on each corner, keeping the board facing out at chest level. And I was ordered to break the board with the newly learned flying side kick.
If I had more energy, I could have delivered that at head level, but chest level was fine: I hit it squarely and broke the board on the first try. The white belts were suitably relieved.
And Sensei handed me my brown belt: I had passed the test, perhaps not with the best energy, but I did the work. Being tested without knowing I was being tested was actually a great kindness: I was able to focus on doing well what I could do, rather than trying to do everything to perfection and berating myself for not being at 100%.
I was also shocked how relieved I was when this was all done. I had been carrying a huge amount of stress about so many things coming up, as well as tasks delayed & accumulating. Finally, I had a major task which was done & finished, and I needed that particular victory to help me get through the coming storm.
I regret I didn't get photos or video of that board break, and the guys couldn't attend the graduation (because we didn't know it would be a graduation), but there will be others.
And with that done, I went home for too few hours of sleep before flying to San Francisco the following morning.