Since I didn't do a recap last week, I'm going to catch up on stuff here from the past two weeks, and there was a LOT going on. Settle in.
TRAINING:
I spent much of my weekend of May 11 and 12 reviewing Presas Arnis material - mostly the forms, because... well, I suck at forms. But other stuff too.
Why? Because I was going to World Modern Arnis Alliance Texas camp on May 16, and I was going to test for rank under their curriculum.
But before I went to Texas, like usual, I was at the Kansas City Presas Arnis Meetup to get in some last-minute stick-banging. We had a new Meetup member attend, so I worked with him and one of our regulars who hadn't been in for a while on some sinawali stuff.
So I fly to Texas on Thursday, 5/16. My teacher picked me up and I got to help out with his private student's class that morning. I haven't seen this student in a long time and it was really great to train with him again. He's really come a long way in the year or so since I saw him last.
Then we went down to Stephenville, TX to go to camp. Thursday was informal pre-camp training, and we spent a lot of time correcting the forms. Yep, we all got 'em sorta wrong-ish and they had to be fixed. That was a fun discovery! We also played Sinawali so that was in my comfort zone, ending the day on a high note for yours truly.
Friday, during the day, we trained on a lot of curriculum material, mainly correcting and defining terms and learning/reviewing specialized WMAA drills. Camp formally started Friday night (we had people from Kansas City, Durango CO, Austin TX and various parts of the DFW area in attendance as well as locals from Stephenville) and we trained until about 9 pm or so. I was tired already, with two days to go!
Saturday we moved to the new facilities of TNT Self Defense and worked on LOTS AND LOTS of different drills and concepts - knife, stick, empty hand. The thing with WMAA curriculum stuff is that it is rarely brand-new to me (as my teacher covers that material in his own curriculum) but there's always a fresh take on it that makes what I already know better. That's what all of Saturday was like for me - "Oh, hey, I know that but doing it that way is cool!" Plus we got a lot of terminology defined (there is no uniformity in what stuff is called so we're always saying, "Oh, I know what that thing is, we call it something else!"
Sunday morning, many of us tested for WMAA rank. It goes to show just how much we need our teachers and peers, because I felt horrible about my personal performance on the test (even though my test partner was AWESOME), but apparently I didn't actually suck.
In fact, Datu Tim Hartman complemented my teacher and myself on the test, and I was confirmed as a WMAA Dayang Dalawa (2nd Degree Black), and my teacher as a WMAA Lakan Lima (5th Degree Black).
We happy and tired people kept training after the test until about 3 pm (aw yiss, sumbrada!), when we finally declared we were DONE, mentally and physically. I developed a nasty blister on my left hand so I couldn't hold a stick any more at this point, and I was covered in bruises (so you know I had a good time, right?). I was ready to put a fork in it by then.
And then my... adventure... to come home started. I'll tell you about that at the end of this post.
BLOGGERY:
Wednesday: I Am the Passenger
Thursday: 5 Ways to Suck Less at the Martial Arts
Friday: Weapons and the Newbie
Monday: 11 Quick Tips About Arnis for Newbies Tuesday: Change Partners!
Wednesday: Lone Star Blues
Thursday: Reputation and Rank
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OTHER NEATO BURRITO STUFF:
STOOPID BRAIN!
Well, that's one way to make that chore suck less...
I know several of you have never actually considered this question. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.
FRIDAY THOUGHTS:
Thanks to severe weather, the universe was conspiring to not let me get back home to KC. My flight was canceled, there were no other flights to buy, there were no cars to rent at the airport, and we had to scramble to search the city to find a rental car somewhere (which we finally did). Then I drove home on Monday through that storm, the one that produced tornadoes in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Luckily for me, I just hit rain. Lots of rain.
Unfortunately, that car rental blew my training budget for the next six months. I won't get to go out of town to train any time soon, and that sucks, because I had some plans.
Ah well.
I hope you were as busy and happy as I was in the last two weeks. Keep training, have fun, and be happy, y'all!