Saturday, February 16, 2008

She's Nearly There!

Otter earned her Recommended Black Belt today. It is a Black Belt, just not the final one. But it represents quite a bit. Recommended Black says a great deal about the person who wears it. It means that a lot of hard work and effort has happened over the last few years, and it also means that the hardest part is just beginning. As aggresive as she is in karate, and she's not the least bit timid, her coach kept encouraging her to be even more aggresive today. She's about to start the adult class, and he wanted her to be as prepared as she could be. It's going to be a different world for her, come Monday night. But she'll be fine. She will have to adjust to being the newcomer, instead of the top belt in her level. But she has a very strong drive to succeed, she wants it pretty bad and it will happen. In time, it takes several months at this point. But she'll get there. And we will be just as proud of her as we are now, we know how hard she works and she's willing to do what it takes to reach her goal.

All the parents are supportive, everybody applauds everyone else's kids but I noticed today that she seemed to have everyone's support, much more than what normally happens. Several of the parents were cheering her on during the last sparring matches, she was paired with a very tough boy and it was a true battle. And she definetely had the crowd on her side. Which is not to say anything bad about the boy, he was very good and I think he'll get there as well when it's his turn. But it was a nice moment for her. The boy's little sister was also cheering Otter on, but being a little sister myself I can kind of understand why she might have wanted her big brother to lose! Especially to a girl. :) The boy's father commented to me about how he, as a father of a daughter himself, was glad she was so strong and able to protect herself. I think his daughter is probably going to be enrolled soon!

It's rained most of the day. Not a hard rain or anything, just constant. It was very messy when we were out in it today. But it's been above freezing so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I think it's supposed to stay above freezing tonight but I'm not positive. The kitchen floor is decorated with puppy paws again. Thoughtful doggies that they are, they want to make sure I have something to do so they decorate the floor for me. Although most of their day has been spent snoozing.

Bill's been coughing and sneezing for a couple of days. He might have fever, but I'm not going to take his temperature. It's like dealing with an angry bear! I don't think he's feeling too good but he won't admit it.

We watched The 300 today. It was Bill's turn to pick the movie. It was not the best movie we've ever seen. It was not historically correct and it was hard to follow. The way it was shot was also distracting. The acting was not really good, either. Hopefully, when it's my turn next weekend I'll come up with something good! Or at least one that doesn't give me a headache just from watching it.

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