Dani... Black Belt Stitching Wizard

Warring Passions!

Sigh...

Why do I have to enjoy two activities so much? Its Monday night which means Taekwon-Do night. Finally after a weekend of re-charging myself I'm not exhausted at the end of the day. So I want to go train but I want to stay home and stitch! It was raining a little while ago, which makes me want to stay home. However, TKD (Taekwon-Do) is only offred Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and well I just don't to Saturdays so that leaves me little choice if I want to try to train twice a week!

So I'll be a good little girl (HA!) and go to TKD tonight. I was also an even better giril and spent 30 minutes praying to the treadmill gods (walking) while I watched Coronation Street.

I used to be very involved in my TKD community when I lived in the city. But as the years went on (I've been training since 1997) I felt at times like I was being taken for granted. I'd be there Monday-Thrusday training, helping in the office, volunteering for tournaments, assisting, attending seminars, and so on. Since I wasn't world championship material (mind you I'm pretty darned good, just not super-competitive) I found I'd get ignored. Or when everyone was off to that big important tournament and I'd stay behind to keep the school open I'd barely get a thanks.

When I bought my home in the summer of 2002 I decided to take time off... which turned to quitting. The straw that really broke the camel's back was the night I made a mistake with one of my patterns, I moved the wrong foot. My instructor was standing right in front of me, watching me... he walked off to correct one of the kids who was training to contend for a spot on the Canadian team. That was it! I had it! I had joined TKD because it looked neat, I had a friend in Texas doing it and I figured if she could do it, then damn well I could too. For many years it was fun, we all trained hard, we enjoyed it and we all got equal amounts of attention.

But as the school got bigger, the focus turned to politics, competition and producing more world champions. Training wasn't fun anymore. So after months of thinking and angonizing, I left. Moving out of the city and into the country was the perfect oppertunity.

By April of 2003 I started finally missing TKD... it took me nine months to finally get over the bad taste in my mouth. The school I've been going to since I started had a small group training out in a small town about a 20 minute drive from my home (when you live in the country almost everything is a minimum 20-30 minute drive away). I knew it was much more lower-key and family orientated. So I finally bit the bullet, pulled my dobok (uniform) out of mothballs and went in. I've been training ever since. I enjoy the atmosphere, we're there to learn but still have a good time. Classes often end with going out for a drink afterwards and everyone is welcome, not just a particular clique.

Finally now I'm feeling ready to get more involved again. All summer long the instructors have been talking about the BIG Internatonal Tournament my school will be hosting in October, General Choi's Memorial Cup. I thought I might actually be ready to compete, but as of last week I decided no... I don't feel confident enough about my black belt patterns yet. However, I will go out and judge the colour belt competitions and attend the banquet the night before. I even finally went out and bought a suit for judging. There is a standard dress code for judging at TKD tournaments, navy blue suit, white blouse, and navy tie (for the men). I even got a good deal and picked up the jacket and pants for $95.00!

Well I've got maybe 15 minutes before I have to get ready to leave so I'll stop there for now and get to some e-mails!