Catching Up

Well, Mom has finally gotten after me for not writing in my blog. So I’m back. Ta daa! Actually, there has been quite a bit going on, and that’s why I’m not writing much…too busy out doing the stuff to write about it. Let me ‘splain…no, let me sum up:

We took a team to the Austin AAU tournament…13 competitors won a total of 20 medals. We swept the beginner push-hands competition, and many of our first-time competitors won gold medals in several events. Jorge Peraza had to compete in the adult division instead of the 14-18 division, and against folks who were much more experienced in Chinese broadsword…and he got a silver medal out of the 6 competitors. Beth Boyd got first place in her first tournament, and so it went. I even won a silver medal in Shuai-Chiao.

Sifu Dave Pickens of Round Rock, TX was the tournament director, and he was great to work with. Thanks a ton, Sifu Dave!

I was amused to see all of our young tough teens next to the few others in the continuous sparring division…they all had MMA gear on (we had cleaned the blood off of it beforehand) as opposed to the usual foam-dipped gear. It was supposed to be light-contact, and I admonished my students repeatedly to that effect…but when they were fighting each other, the judges seemed content to let them fight a bit harder than expected. It was a blast! All of our guys really enjoyed the experience, and I enjoyed the fighting spirit they displayed on the mat.

It was kind of a long day for us…when we arrived at 7:30am to check in, we were told that the internal events were to start at 8am…that included push-hands! None of us had our gear or clothes with us, so we dashed back to the hotel, changed, grabbed our gear, and hauled back to the tournament…only to wait until around noon for our first competitions. After that, it was a long day of ‘hurry up and wait’, and we really didn’t feel that we could leave for fear of missing one of our events. Felix, bless him, offered to go get us some food late in the afternoon…I was actually still chewing my chicken sandwich as I walked up to meet my final opponent on the mat. After I got quickly thrown twice by Matt (the black belt from NY), we got out of there around 8:30pm. We showered and changed, and headed to Hooters to watch the UFC fights.

I must say that, seated there and watching all of my students talking excitedly about the days events, laughing loudly and hooting at the screen where the fights were in full swing, I felt proud…and humbled. All of these folks were part of our Jade Mountain family, and their dedication and spirit truly moved me. It was a wonderful feeling.

All in all, we had a great time, and we’re already planning ahead to Labor Day weekend in 2008. Look out, Austin…Jade Mountain’s coming atcha!

That was two weekends ago. This past weekend, my Sifu, Arthur D’Agostino, came out for a seminar and to do some training with me. It was a really productive weekend, and now we’re looking forward to our Instructor Training event in Florida next month. That should be a blast! I don’t know that I’m looking forward to the firewalk, though…once was enough for me.

And so things have been rocking along pretty well of late. My darling wife has lost 25 pounds since the start of the summer, and she’s feeling fine and sassy…and I think she’s trying to kill me with affection. Not that I mind, of course! She’s feeling fabulous, and so am I. Monkey’s having a good time in kindergarten, and although he still gets notes sent home every so often, he seems to be assimilating fairly well. He’s a happy kid, and if we can get him to quit bugging the other kids, he’ll be fine.

One particularly sad thing happened last week…one of our assistant instructors suddenly lost her 11 year old son. We were all shocked to hear that he’d passed away, and our hearts are breaking for Renee B. and her family. Her son, Jason Alen Mathew Nankivel Jr., will be greatly missed. At Renee’s request, we are accepting donations at Jade Mountain to be forwarded to the Make-A-Wish Foundation in JJ’s name.

So…that’s what’s going on around here. Oh, one final note: I went to the dentist today.

Weeks ago, I was eating my breakfast and suddenly I found my eggs to be somewhat crunchy. Thinking I had left shells in my eggs, I did some checking and discovered that one of my wisdom teeth had broken. Nothing hurt, but it was certainly eroding back there. Hmph. Fine. Didn’t need that chunk of tooth anyhow.

But then I was chewing gum during our seminars on Saturday, and suddenly found another, larger piece of debris…from a different tooth. I figured I’d better get my butt to the dentist. So I followed my darling wife’s advice, and went to hers.

“Trust me,” she said. “You’ll love it there.”

When I first entered, I found a nice young woman at the front desk. Cutie. As I filled out the necessary forms, she even offered me some ice water. When she brought it, I could see that there were blueberries and pieces of orange in the ice cubes. Cool! Another cutie came to the door and called my name. “Follow me, please.” Yes, ma’am!! She was the dental assistant, who got me situated in a comfy dentist’s chair, got the bib around my neck, and chatted about my reasons for being there. After the Doc came in and discussed my situation, we decided on some x-rays and fillings…and here comes a gorgeous x-ray tech to take pics of my teeth! My wife wasn’t kidding! And then came the accountant to discuss payment methods! Cutie! I mentioned that it must be a prerequisite for working there…being gorgeous and all.

I’m scheduled for a follow-up tomorrow. And a cleaning on Tuesday. And a root canal on Friday. And a follow-up on Monday after that. OK, not really…but I can say, without a doubt, that I will enjoy my next trips to the dentist.