Day 176

The boys' bags - all packed up and ready for their 2 days in Big Bear.
Lucky them.

Lucky us!

Day 175

Look at that cheesy smile.

Day 174

We came up with a way to beat the heat this Sunday afternoon.

Day 173

It's official . . .

Day 172

06/25/1999

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Day 171

Talking to a girl from his class.
We are in so much trouble.

Day 170

Part of the group of teen actors who we toured through the building today. They asked great questions and were really engaged.

Day 169

Hello little guy. Could you please go camp out in someone else's tree? You make my dogs go crazy!

Day 16?

I scored an awesome parking spot today. See those windows on the ground floor? My office is directly across from there.

Day 167

Happy Father's Day!!

Day 166

Sometimes I think Dean is part monkey.

We took the boys to see The Karate Kid today. The original was better but the kung fu was beautiful. I did like the ending better on this one.

Day 165

Jack - on the last day of school.

Day 164

Summer break is within reach . . .
Just one more day of school!!

Day 163

We're doing a bit of construction in our pod at work. There were 4 hard wall cubes in there on Monday when I left. I kind of love the pink ball in the middle of it all.

Oh, I changed jobs 4 weeks ago. I'm now in Talent Development. Our department is in charge of school and industry outreach, the trainee and undergraduate associate program, inspiration, innovation, and spark. I get to help set up industry events and tour college art students around the building. I get to reinvent our artistic library including updating the space and the materials. I get to go around the building and interview people for videos for events and take pictures. I get to brainstorm ideas for re-engaging our people and come up with new ways to inspire and support evolution. I don't have to do anything in excel. I do get to learn everything I can about Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc. I don't have to give any bad news. I am on the right path.

Day 162

Jack's class did a little demonstration of a couple of the dances they learned this year. I didn't tell him that I was coming and he was so surprised to see me there. After this dance, the teacher asked for parents to come up and dance with their kids. I got to learn this dance with him and then we all did it together. It was really fun.

Note:
I tried to post this last night with a video of the entire dance but had technical difficulties.

Day 161

Hello Dean. You sure are cute.

Day 160

Dean went for a motorcycle ride today. He loved it.

Day 158 and Day 159

Niki Haris and her fiancee Wycliffe Gordon kick off the 2nd set last night. This concert was their way of saying 'farewell' to LA. This pictures are a bit blurry because I didn't want to use the flash. I like the way he's looking at her in this shot.

This was at the end of the night, finishing up the last song. Technically, it was after midnight so I feel perfectly justified in using it for my picture of the day today. The music was incredible.

Day 157

Petunias in the school garden.

Day 156

06/09/10, originally uploaded by Twintales.

Jackie!

Day 155

I know he's not looking at me and his face is half hidden from the bars but there's something about it that I kind of love.

Tuesday is dance class day at school. Every Tuesday, the boys wear their green tshirts that say Sky High Dance on them. Every single Tuesday. Today, I ran into the dance teacher and told her that my boys love her class. She asked their names and when I told her she said, "Dean?! I love that little guy!! He's so into it. He's so focused. I'm not just saying this either. We made a connection." It's really nice to hear.

Last night, Dean was practicing piano and Jack and I were singing along for him. It helps him with the pacing and to know what comes next. When Dean got to the end of his song, he held the last note and looked over his shoulder to see our reaction. We clapped and cheered and told him, in all seriousness, how great it was. Then he said, in his best lounge act voice, "Who wants Honeydew?" And then he played Honeydew. When he was finished with that, he looked over his shoulder and, again in his lounge voice, "Who wants Jackson blues?!" And then played Jackson Blues. It was awesome.

Day 154

Slam DUNK!

Day 153

The final piece of the black belt test - breaking a brick. I broke this one with a palm strike. Went right through it - first try!

It was an incredible weekend. I was amazingly calm throughout the testing. My nervousness would only pop up after I had done something but as soon as I became aware of that, I forced myself to slow my breathing and then I relaxed and the nerves went away. My legs felt good and my hamstrings didn't give me any problems. They just got a little sore after sitting for a while. I spent an hour in the hot tub after the test and that helped tremendously. My sparring felt a little weak but that's because I haven't sparred since I tore my hamstring two months ago.

This isn't the end . . . just the beginning. Next up: testing for my black belt in Hapkido in December. Then, testing for 2nd degree black belt in June 2012. What I thought was something I wanted to cross off my list has become a way of life. And I love it.

Day 152

Tae Geuk Oe Jong
Black Belt Testing Day One
It. Was. AWESOME!!
Tomorrow - brick breaking!
Tae Geuk Oe Jong
Black Belt Testing Day 1 - It was awesome!
Tomorrow - brick breaking!!

Testing for Black Belt

I'm testing for black belt tomorrow and all week long I've felt this strange sort of detachment. I'm worried about my legs - I've been working with a torn right hamstring and adductor muscle and then last weekend I strained my left hamstring. I'm disappointed that I'm not at my best physically but everyone assures me that it's really common to hurt yourself just before the black belt test. So I'm dealing with that. Last Friday was my last morning class with Master Dylan. I knew it was coming. He gave us the news months ago that he would be stopping the morning classes as soon as I got my black belt. But it hasn't really sunk in yet that it's over. He was in New York this week and I think I've been treating this as though he's just been out of town and when he's back we'll resume our normal schedule. But that's not going to happen and so suddenly, I'm confronted with all these emotions that I haven't really connected to yet. The relationship between Master and student is really unique and special and so I'm mourning the loss of that regular interaction. At the same time I'm forging a new relationship with Master Robie but it's different. Master Dylan is definitely more focused on hapkido and the spiritual and internal aspects of martial arts whereas Master Robie is more focused on the kicking techniques and sparring. And I wonder, how am I going to fit this into my schedule now that I'll have to go to evening classes? Mornings were so much easier for me. How is this going to work? What will I have to sacrifice? All of this is swirling around in my head and it's pushing away all thoughts of the actual test. Or maybe, I'm subconsciously pushing those thoughts away. This has been a dream of mine for years and it's about to come true. What happens when it does? When I cross that off my list I'm sure I'll feel pride and an enormous sense of accomplishment but what if I also feel a let down? I was telling Tom tonight that I don't feel nervous and that should worry me. He told me that I've been on a journey of a thousand steps and now I've gone 997 and there are only 3 more to go. This journey is nearly complete and the outcome is almost certain. And now I'm sitting here staring at those last 3 steps and it's almost like I'm afraid to take them - and yet, I'm terrified I'll miss them. That's the weird thing.

Day 151

This is what happens when you mix a 7 year old boy, sunscreen and a day of junior olympics on a dusty school blacktop. No, his feet aren't super clean. His legs are really, really dirty.

******

In other news, I'm testing for black belt this weekend. It deserves it's own post though.

IMG00115-20100603-2312.jpg

Day 151

Day 150

Dean left me a message.

Day 149