I actually can't think of much to say today, so I'll just give a little rundown of class.

I met a new black belt today -- another guy that just returned from an extended hiatus.  It's nice that all of these people are coming back, since I think Sensei's been worried about having too few students, but I kind of wish there were more new people.  As much as I don't like to be shown up by kouhai, I want the school to survive.

Class started out with sanchin kata, which I performed mediocrely.  (Apparently, spellcheck doesn't like that word.)  I don't really understand how to do the mawashi uke part, and I know my breathing was terrible.

Then, the others all did gekisai dai ichi, and we did the sandan gi drill that goes with it.  I'm definitely better at sandan gi now, which is nice.  I don't always feel like I'm falling behind, even though I'm still probably the slowest at it.

After that, we did foot sweeps for a while.  My form is terrible when I'm just shadowboxing, but when I'm kicking the heavy bag, or working with a person, I think I do fairly well.  Sensei also had us bounce to the beat of a metronome, and try to do the foot sweep off rhythm.  Yeah... I'm not so good at that.  Clearly, timing isn't my thing.

Finally, we sparred a bit.  I get very flustered during sparring, and kind of laugh nervously all the time.  (Or, maybe it's out of shame. Heh.)  I also have a bad habit of just trying to avoid being hit by continually backing up.  So, sparring with me looks a bit too linear...  One time, Sensei put up his arm behind me, and told me I wasn't allowed to go that way anymore.  Added to the fact that I never block with the correct hand, and the fact that I won't attack unless Sensei literally tells me, "Okay, now punch.  Now, kick.  Now do a combination," sparring really seems unnatural to me.

Today, my mother asked me, "How much sparring do you need to do to be a black belt?"  It almost made me cry, thinking of how far I have to go.

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit down today?