If you have not already done so, please do so now.

I know, it's been a few days since I've updated. Really, I've been tired all that time. Tennessee was awesome, but it throws off my sleep schedule, and anything that throws off my sleep schedule gives me migraines. Guess what I started getting Saturday afternoon.

The seminars on Saturday were great. I participated in 5 sessions that day: 2 of 3 sessions with Bill "Superfoot" Wallace (I was worn out by the time that his third session took place that day), ground fighting, women's self defense, and tai chi. All of them were very well done, very informative, exhilarating, and effective (I have the bruises to prove it). That evening at the banquet a black belt from our dojo received her 6th degree. It was a surprise for her, as it was for nearly everyone else. As a matter of fact, a couple of the highest ranks had decided on it the night before. I think that was without the input of her husband, too, who was the highest rank there at that seminar. If you know them, you know who I'm talking about.

I bought a book of Sudoku for the flight back home. Let me just say it's a good thing my professors put notes up online, because I wouldn't be able to get everything down if they didn't. I'm not saying I don't take any notes, I just wouldn't be able to get every point. Now I can at least write down the points I feel I need to emphasize.

There are multiple factors for why I was still so tired upon returning from Tennessee. One of them is the fact that my sleep schedule was thrown off, which brings in number two, the migraine. A third factor is the pressure point I had demonstrated on me Friday night (I could still feel its effects on Sunday and Monday). Fourth is the slight cold I caught on the trip, and fifth would be the two tests I had yesterday. After that I had a quiz today. All of that makes for a very tiring week, and I'm not surprised I've been out of it.

I'm going to start running. It's actually a walking/jogging program that's supposed to help one get up to jogging/running 3 miles (5k) in about 9 weeks. It's called Couch to 5k. Go figure. It looks doable, so I'm gonna do it. One of the students who got his black belt over the summer told me about it. Google it if you're interested.

The flight home from Tennessee was fun, as I'm quickly finding out every karate-related event tends to be. Taught one of our black belts how to play Go Fish (he's from Venezuela) in the terminal, then I learned how to play 21. After the dynamics of Go Fish, though, 21 seems a little ... simple. The other blackbelts on our trip were surprised by the intense dynamics my roommate and I had every night on the trip, playing Go Fish and watching HGTV. I napped on the plane until snacks arrived. I spent the rest of the trip taking pictures of clouds (actually, my roommate for the trip had taken them, since she was in the window seat), doing some of the puzzles in my Sudoku book, and taking pictures of sleeping black belts that will never be circulated, under certain pain of death. It was still funny, though. We had lots of turbulence we went through/around on the flight. The flight attendant even went down the aisle three or four times, passing out drinks. The strange woman on the other seat in my row (besides me and my roommate) had a white wine the first time he came down the aisle and didn't wake up until the flight was basically over. The best part, though, was probably when the pilot came on the intercom and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you haven't already done so, please do so now."