Feedback
2007.11.26 - Monday
I just wanted to say thanks to those people who gave me some feedback on the sci-fi cliche list. Some
interesting points. I'll take some time to modify the list closer to Christmas. Right now we're in the
middle of a pretty busy show, which will final just before the holidays. It's actually a nice change of
pace, since for the last couple of years at least we've always seemed to have shows due in the first
couple of weeks of January, leaving the Christmas holiday a stress-filled husk of what it should be. The
downside is that work is getting crazy just around the time when I need to be doing some shopping and
sending gifts away. So things are busy at the moment, but at least there's progress.
Banquet Video
2007.11.19 - Monday
Looks like someone is on the ball as far as posting videos to YouTube goes. While the lighting isn't
great, you can see some of the stuff I did. Not perfect, but not awful, as I said. Plus, the video has
all of the board breaks towards the end. I'm either on the left side of frame, or off frame for a lot of
the video, but it gives you a good idea of the show, I suppose. Good stuff!
Black Belt
2007.11.18 - Sunday
Finally, a new post. It's been so busy recently I haven't gotten around to writing for a while. This
past Friday was Tong Moo Do's annual banquet, where students who passed the recent test receive their
Black Belts. This time around the group was quite small, two second Dan students and three first Dan.
Sean, one of my instructors who received his second Dan, and myself, were the only adults. Along with a
couple of video presentations, the school's instructors staged one of their usual fight scenes, and we
the "Black Belt candidates" did a short demonstration of a handful of the techniques we're tested on. I
didn't make too many mistakes, and broke all of my boards; a sidekick, a palmstrike, and a spinning hook
kick, so it went reasonably well.
Near the beginning of a pattern called "Mi Duem".
Just snapping through a spinning hook kick.
Each student receives their Black Belt individually from Grandmaster, along with a certificate.
Afterwards Sean and I, well, mostly Sean, said a few words of thanks and explained our gift of a new
tea set to the school. The current set doesn't have enough cups for the usual number of students
participating in the tea ceremony, so we wanted to get something a little more practical than resorting
to using coffee mugs or washing cups in between each person. After the nervous but reasonably successful
public speaking, the banquet was pretty much over. I had to get a few more pictures, of course, before
changing and heading off to a late hockey game, which we won 5-0. An all around good night, I would say.
Ceremonial bow.
Laura, Mom, Alec, Dad.
Sean, Alec, Arniel.
