YAHOO!!!!!!!!!

Due to excited-sounding comments from Paula (lol! :D) and my own desires to inform you all of how Provincials went.... I'm going to wait and tell you closer at the end of this post. Quit moaning, I'm getting there!

Saturday started by waking up at 5:00 (blech), getting my gi packed together, getting a large travel mug of coffee, and getting driven out to the Gorr road by my dad, who was kind enough to wake me up by letting my listen to his new ring-tune, namely Vertigo. So envious... Anyways, only had to wait 2 minutes for Kinseys to come pick me up, was wished good luck by Dad, and was off.

After little to no conversation in the truck, and a quick stop at Timmy's (Dawn was desperate for caffiene), we finally arrived at the school.... to find out that some paperwork had gotten messed up somewhere, and everyone had been locked out. We had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come let us in, and then it took a while to get set up, so opening cerimonies didn't happen until 9, a full hour late! Rawr.

Then, after waiting 2 whole frickin' hours, all the time freaking out cuz my parents were running late and weren't there yet, my age group and belt level was finally called to Ring A. I only had 3 opponents, only one of whom was female, and another who was a purple belt. Started feeling slightly hopeful...

Seeing as I was the youngest in that age group, they called me up first for Kata. I choose to do Heien Sandan, now in hindsight, I should really have done Heien Yondan, the green belt kata. Oh well. I think I got a score of about 18.0, not too bad...

HOWEVER....

Kumite was divided up into gender for my age group, that was my only mercy. They (the judges) asked us to do a type of kumite that I didn't know how to do, involving Jodan-Chudan-Mai-geri, I am used to doing Jodan-Chudan-Jodan-Chudan. And to make matters more interesting, my opponent was, I think, a lefty. Dang.

Anways, I came away with (drumroll please)..... a silver in Kumite and a bronze in Kata. Was fairly pleased, am now wishing I had done better, but oh well, may be good enough for Nationals now! Was also happy that my parents showed up in time to see me get my medals, and that my Sensei was very impressed with me.

Now my "trophy shelf" is getting a good chunk heavier (Those medals were freakin' heavy!), and everyone at church was very impressed with my accomplishments.

Next: Nationals? Hope so!!

Words you may or may not have ever heard before now:
Sensei: Karate teacher
Kata: Series of moves meant to kick butts of imaginary opponents
Heien Sandan: Orange belt kata
Heien Yondan: Green belt kata
Kumite: Sparring
Jodan: Face level
Chudan: Stomach level
Mai-geri: Front snap kicking