Plowing Has Started

Soon the fields will be planted and greening with young crops. I could smell the fresh tilled earth as we drove home from karate.

Speaking of karate, I'm a bit irked at sensei--again. When he first told us that James and I would be testing this spring, I told him to let me know as soon as possible when the test would be because I'd need to put in for my day off. You have to put in two to three months ahead of time to get your vacation approved because they only let 10 people per day--per shift--have vacation time. Anyway, Tuesday night he said we would be testing definitely in May. Then he said, "I need to call and arrange it so you can put in for your day off."

It's too late for that. May is already booked solid. I'll have to call in sick to take the test. Which is really not that big of a deal except that I had a chance at a perfect attendance for the first time in the 11 years I've been working there. (They give perfect attendance every 6 months there.) Heavy sigh....

Mr Tedder really worked with James and me tonight, and I'm starting to feel better about the test. If he works with us like that every class until the test, I feel I'll be much better prepared. Next week, we'll do self defense and bunkai.

It was kind of funny because we started doing our kata with the kiais in them. We are so used to not doing them, that we kept forgetting to put them where they belong. (For those who don't know, a "kiai" is a spirit yell.) We used to do full focus kata with spirit all the time, but have kind of gotten away from them these last couple of years. Every time we would kiai, she would run off the floor crying.

Bad news...Scarlett regurgitated her mouse today. This is the second meal in a row. I'm going to switch her with Blaze. She may do better in his tank since it is in a much quieter area of the house.

Good news...Blaze shed this evening. Perfect shed in every way. Going to measure and feed him tomorrow, then clean out his tank really well and put Scarlett in there.

Why is it always the special ones that have the problems?