On family, burning food and this year's first outdoor staff training

So here's what happened today.

First, I had a long phone call with my cousin SB. He's coming down from college this weekend, he wants to bring Rock Band and chill. "Old school," he said to me, "the way we used to when I was little. I've been thinking about that a lot, when I used to spend the weekend with you and we'd play video games all night."

"Do you want to stay the weekend?" I asked him.

"No, I was just thinking about how much fun it was when I was little."

LOL,teens. He's my heart though, and he's a really good boy. He said that Jo-Chan would probably stay the weekend though, and that means good times ahead. The best weekends are when Jo-chan comes to stay. Especially in the summer when it's just swimming during the day and movies and ice cream at night. What is awesome about this beautiful girl is how she expresses herself. At 15 (almost 16 now) she's unlike any other kid, and she doesn't want to be. Most teenagers say that, but still want to fit in. She means every word she says.

Then SB and I started talking about Muse, because he's been talking them up since the summertime, and he was so excited that I was listening to them. he said that his band has been covering their songs for years, and when he comes home for the summer, they're going to do a show in June and they're covering Stockholm Syndrome. Can I tell you how excited I am for them? His band is awesome, too; he plays bass. He's not one of those "plonk plonk plonk" bassists; he is a real musician.

Can I be random for a moment and tell you guys something weird? I've eaten balsamic vinaigrette with my lunch for about five years now. I love it. Recently it's been making my tongue get all red and swollen. O_O

I've also been making lots of smoothies, right? Well the first time I used kiwis, the top of my upper lip got all red and cut up looking and sore. That was the only part of my mouth that did though. Well you know how it goes, process of elimination, control groups, all that. None of the other smoothies I made had that effect. Yesterday I added kiwis again and it really burned, and it still burns today!

So WTF, am I getting food allergies or something? Like to things that are acidic?

Moving on, so tonight in Kung Fu it was basics, well, drills and pads, blah blah blah. Then Tracy, Lee and I went outside to do staff. Haven't done that all the way through in about a year. It was one of those nights, you know? Cool but not freezing. Dark, lit by the parking lot light. (It's a small, private parking lot surrounded by trees in the back of the building.) Tree frogs singing their little faces off and me and my training brother and sister doing the staff form. I remembered my favorite part. Lee didn't remember that part; she watched me do it and she said, "That's so pretty." I was like, "It's supposed to be deadly." O_O After a down-strike, you go into a steal-step cross stance with the staff behind your back. Then you untwist and turn three times to a bow stance, but during the turns you leap and spin in the air, with the staff going first around your middle and then around your neck. It's showy and the application is probably not totally necessary, but honestly, is staff necessary in the real world? I mean, it's not like bandits are going to hold me up for all my possessions and all I will have is my trusty staff that I can cleverly spin off of my neck while leaping, you know?

It was a beautiful night, is what I'm saying.

On family, burning food and this year's first outdoor staff training

So here's what happened today.

First, I had a long phone call with my cousin SB. He's coming down from college this weekend, he wants to bring Rock Band and chill. "Old school," he said to me, "the way we used to when I was little. I've been thinking about that a lot, when I used to spend the weekend with you and we'd play video games all night."

"Do you want to stay the weekend?" I asked him.

"No, I was just thinking about how much fun it was when I was little."

LOL,teens. He's my heart though, and he's a really good boy. He said that Jo-Chan would probably stay the weekend though, and that means good times ahead. The best weekends are when Jo-chan comes to stay. Especially in the summer when it's just swimming during the day and movies and ice cream at night. What is awesome about this beautiful girl is how she expresses herself. At 15 (almost 16 now) she's unlike any other kid, and she doesn't want to be. Most teenagers say that, but still want to fit in. She means every word she says.

Then SB and I started talking about Muse, because he's been talking them up since the summertime, and he was so excited that I was listening to them. he said that his band has been covering their songs for years, and when he comes home for the summer, they're going to do a show in June and they're covering Stockholm Syndrome. Can I tell you how excited I am for them? His band is awesome, too; he plays bass. He's not one of those "plonk plonk plonk" bassists; he is a real musician.

Can I be random for a moment and tell you guys something weird? I've eaten balsamic vinaigrette with my lunch for about five years now. I love it. Recently it's been making my tongue get all red and swollen. O_O

I've also been making lots of smoothies, right? Well the first time I used kiwis, the top of my upper lip got all red and cut up looking and sore. That was the only part of my mouth that did though. Well you know how it goes, process of elimination, control groups, all that. None of the other smoothies I made had that effect. Yesterday I added kiwis again and it really burned, and it still burns today!

So WTF, am I getting food allergies or something? Like to things that are acidic?

Moving on, so tonight in Kung Fu it was basics, well, drills and pads, blah blah blah. Then Tracy, Lee and I went outside to do staff. Haven't done that all the way through in about a year. It was one of those nights, you know? Cool but not freezing. Dark, lit by the parking lot light. (It's a small, private parking lot surrounded by trees in the back of the building.) Tree frogs singing their little faces off and me and my training brother and sister doing the staff form. I remembered my favorite part. Lee didn't remember that part; she watched me do it and she said, "That's so pretty." I was like, "It's supposed to be deadly." O_O After a down-strike, you go into a steal-step cross stance with the staff behind your back. Then you untwist and turn three times to a bow stance, but during the turns you leap and spin in the air, with the staff going first around your middle and then around your neck. It's showy and the application is probably not totally necessary, but honestly, is staff necessary in the real world? I mean, it's not like bandits are going to hold me up for all my possessions and all I will have is my trusty staff that I can cleverly spin off of my neck while leaping, you know?

It was a beautiful night, is what I'm saying.

and some other stuff about big decisions

After that I made some calls to some colleges re: teaching certificates. At my alma mater, no one picked up and there was no answering machine or voice mail. O_O O-kayyy. I called three more places. One might actually have the program, but no one answered and I left a message. The other, I spoke to a guy who had never heard of any alternate route transitional courses in education certificates and said, "Well you have your BA and you want to teach, so just come on down and get your master's; it's two years if you go full time." He made it sound like I would just pop down for a cup of tea, ladeeda, two years, Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt, get my MA, no worries! Like I can just go back to school full time, you know, not work and all of that stuff.

I ask you!

The third place I called, I spoke to a lady who informed me that the test I'd thought I had to take in order to begin the process hasn't been valid for ten years.

Well, I put it out there. I'm just waiting for some call-backs and we'll see what comes up. No use in worrying about it until someone gives me some information

and some other stuff about big decisions

After that I made some calls to some colleges re: teaching certificates. At my alma mater, no one picked up and there was no answering machine or voice mail. O_O O-kayyy. I called three more places. One might actually have the program, but no one answered and I left a message. The other, I spoke to a guy who had never heard of any alternate route transitional courses in education certificates and said, "Well you have your BA and you want to teach, so just come on down and get your master's; it's two years if you go full time." He made it sound like I would just pop down for a cup of tea, ladeeda, two years, Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt, get my MA, no worries! Like I can just go back to school full time, you know, not work and all of that stuff.

I ask you!

The third place I called, I spoke to a lady who informed me that the test I'd thought I had to take in order to begin the process hasn't been valid for ten years.

Well, I put it out there. I'm just waiting for some call-backs and we'll see what comes up. No use in worrying about it until someone gives me some information