Holy Cow!

Well, the test was just 3.5 hours long. I had some early mental issues that screwed me up. Trying to test righty might have been a mistake as Kelly told my my scores where low because of how I was moving my feet but, my partner could have never held pad work for me if I'd gone lefty.

Anyway...it is what it is and it's over. The rest of the test is a blur except for the part where my partner put a choke on me so hard that I have a contusion on my throat. I thought I was going to pass out, throw up, and die all at the same time. The 4 on 1 drill at the end of the test pushed me where I had never been before. There was no time limit. You went until you had nothing left with 4 partners plus Kelly yelling at you as loud as they could. I kept moving through the entire drill though very slowly at the end. I think back on it now and realize that near the end I could not hear anyone. All I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest like a thousand guys with sledge hammers beating big rocks into little rocks. When I was done, I sprinted to the garbage can sure that I was going to hurl. Kelly turned to me and said out loud to the class, "look, Ed's the first one I made puke!" I sucked it back in, didn't throw up and turned to her and said, "NO WAY, I'm not puking!"

Test was over....I ran outside to puke. 15 minutes rest and onto the teaching test. I know I said this before and it remains true. Kelly makes me nervous. I had to teach reflexive defense to a front kick. Fortunately, Kelly took the time during the test to break this down in detail. I locked all her little tidbits in my brain (though I don't know how). I really don't remember doing the dynamic demo at all but, I know I did it. I do know I broke it down well, worked it dry in the mirror and got everyone working. I made corrections to the whole class and some individual corrections as well. Very shortly into my class working, Kelly called time. Kind of freaked me out since I watched her let others go much longer than me in their teaching. Then, she says, "that's it, you're done." I'm thinking I must have screwed up BAD! Everyone who went before me had to teach two techniques! I only did 3/4 of one. CRAP...

So, I'm home, bruised and sore as a mofo. Julie could only laugh when she saw the bruises (that's one of the things I love about her). I'm hurting in a few places I've never hurt before. Just a few special memories that I came home with....20 minutes into day 1 I take a punch to the kisser and my brand new bridge gets knocked out. I go the rest of the three days toothless. The contusion in my throat. I have a bruise on my ribs that is the exact image of little Ron's fist from all the inside defenses with two counters. I have a purple toe on each foot. I have the most curious set of bruises on my left inner thigh. I have an abrasion on my forehead from burying my head into Ron's back during bearhug from behind, arms free. The thumb side of the heel of my left hand is as purple as purple can be. I'm guessing it's from inside defenses. I'm just glad I don't have to shake hands lefty. Bottom line, this was the toughest thing I have done in a long time. In fact, maybe the toughest thing I've ever done. I doubt I passed but, I'm glad I did it and I would do it again. Just not really soon!

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Day 2 - Everything Hurts

We went from 10am to 7:30pm with a one hour break today. We started out in one of the bag classes and spent 45 minutes of some hard ass cardio. We then jumped back into combos on the focus mits for what seemed like forever. Covered kick defenses, self defense, kicks and the some mock teaching. I'm so tired I can't see straight. I have many bruises and a nice abrasion on my forehead. Otherwise, I feel like a million bucks. I reminded myself that I'm doing this because I love to teach Krav Maga and I know I'm good at it.

Little Ron is kicking ass. He's got more energy than anyone else in Phase.

Tomorrow is the big day. 5 hour belt test followed by our teaching test. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Phase B

So I decided to go to Phase B for Krav Maga. I'm here in San Antonio with Ron Grobman and today was our first day of training. 8 hours of go, go, go but, nothing mysterious, strange or otherwise troubling. Kelly Campbell comes in from LA tonight and will be with us all day tomorrow and for testing on Sunday. It will be nice to see her but, she certainly makes me nervous! Anyway, both Ron and I survived with no major injuries other than my new bridge got knocked out. I'm not even going to try to put it back in until I get to the dentist on Monday.

Qwitter?

I've had it. I'm divorcing myself from Facebook and Twitter. After several months of using both applications I'm finding very little value from either. As for keeping in touch, those I care about both personally and business wise know how to find me (and I know how to find them). I am keeping LinkedIn as I continue to find value for business purposes.

I will start paying more attention to this blog which I enjoy writing. It's nice to be able to express myself in more breadth than Twitter allows. So, start looking for more frequent updates with pictures and videos. I will also go back to using the phone (or skype) more often for communications, especially with my family.

I have some interesting travel coming up starting tomorrow night and running through next Saturday, Oct 3rd. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to blog more frequently.

Game On

I'm sitting at the cafe in Barnes and Noble. Had to get out of the house for a while. Julie's working today so I figured I'd do the same. Been focused on all making sure I properly follow up on all the actions from last weeks meetings in Santa Clara, CA as well as getting ready to leave for Amsterdam on Wednesday. As I'm sitting here it hits me...just how many hours I have worked Saturday, Sunday and today. After being a lazy bum for 4 months while I was between jobs, I'm glad I can still take care of business when I need to.

I'm heading to Amsterdam for IBC, the International Broadcasters Convention. This is a huge show that runs from Sept 11 to Sept 15th. I already have a full dance card and am trying to fit even more meetings in. Some of my meetings are face to face follow ups with potential partners and customers. Some of them are just opportunistic introductions. I've also set some time aside to stalk some of the people I could not get meetings with. You know...lay in wait for them to show up at their booth and then pounce!

Well, I've got a lot to get done and a little time to do it so...off I go. Oh, wait...what was that song from Smokey and The Bandit? "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there..." That's me!