I taped a sign to the door, written hastily, to remind me to bring my chilled bottle of water to Karate. Last week, I forgot it at home and ended up having to drink out of the sink in the bathroom. This was the lesser of two evils since the water fountain outside was in dire need of some Liquid Plumber and had lovely green fuzzies growing in the recepticle. I am a horrible germaphobe and the idea of drinking out of a public water fountain is almost enough to make me embrace dehydration.(Think back to your grade school days when those rascally boys used to spit in the spigot. Thus began my aversion to water fountains.) As we began working out and sweating, my body strongly suggested that I get some liquid in there… and NOW. Yes, that’s how I came to drink water out of the bathroom tap for the first time in my life. And hopefully, it will be my last. To ensure this doesn’t happen again: the sign.
After all, tomorrow is a big day. Tomorrow morning, I will endeavor to attain the next level in my study of Shotokan Karate. I spent some time reviewing the kata (forms) tonight, but I am hoping that I won’t experience a similar episode of stage fright like I did on Wednesday. This time, I’ll be employing every muscle besides the one that failed me the other day. This time, there is a good chance of me literally falling flat on my face.
Karate exams are administered as a solo flight. You stand in front of the class, the sensei calls out commands and you perform the technique or kata that he specifies, all of which are in Japanese. I am hoping I can remember all of them. Wish me luck! I’m going to need it.
