So Sensei handed out belts won at the testing last Thursday, and both Mary and I got our yellow belts. Woot!
Of course, that means that we’ve gone from being utter greenhorns (to mix my color metaphors) to being folks who should know something of what we’re doing. Which, in turn, also means that we now get to learn something new (i.e,, so that we still don’t know what we’re doing).
The next kata we learn, then, is Heian nidan (while still, of course, keeping up with our basics and our sparring and our previous kata). For those who want to see how it should look, YouTube has numerous videos; the one below does a decent job (at full speed, then slower), as does this one. If you want to know how I look doing it … imagine Inspector Clouseau practicing his moves with Kato …
And in case you’re wondering what all the point of these fancy moves is, this video goes through the kata with with at least one interpretation of actual “opponents.”
Anyway, it’s very cool being a yellow belt (it makes for nicer contrast to the white gi) — but we’re still (at the moment) the lowest ranked individuals in the class, so no delusions of karate grandeur here. 🙂
Ding ding ding! Grats!
Woot and Huzzah!
I see that watching the Council do Kata’s has paid off. ;P
Yeah, except I look more like the stray Cadaver shuffling past …
For those curious about the actual ceremony (sorry, no screen caps), after our initial bowing and so forth, Sensei had everyone sit, went and got an armful of new belts, and went to each one of us. After calling each of us by name, we’d exchange bows with him, then a handshake, then a hand-over of the new belt, then (after everyone done) a nice round of applause from the other students.
Then we all trotted out of the room to change into our new belts, and trotted back in to join in the warm-up exercises.
No starburst and “YOU’VE REACHED A NEW LEVEL!” screen text, but it was still pretty nice. And I can now carry an extra row of Inspiration and two new salvage items, and I have only 347 XP to go to the next Security Level …
Congratulations, ***Dave
Wax on, Wax off. I was going to say how proud I was of you starting this sooner, but I’ve been a tad busy. Congrats!
Thanks!
I have to say, I’m nearly as proud of the post title … though that was a lot quicker. 🙂
I was impressed by the post title. You managed to keep the meter (if that’s the correct word) exactly right!
Now, off to the trainer for your new skills (or powers, as I guess you CoH folks say)!