Candidate Journals

Today was my last full day of summer at home. It was mostly spent on essay work and packing. I went to go work out at the gym and then enjoyed lunch with my sisters and my grandfather. Packing has never been something I was particularly good at, and I am in the midst of sorting through the mess that I have with all my stuff. It's a good thing my flight is in the afternoon tomorrow.

Today was my last day of work this summer at King Tiger. Don't worry, I'm coming back eventually, I always do. I'm going to spend tomorrow packing and getting things in order for when I leave. Hopefully I get a lot of black belt cycle things in too. Anyway, I hope to see everyone on future zoom calls, and I will continue my training in Minnesota.

So, today I think I learned all of Double Stick 2! It wasn't too hard to learn once I got the beginning. Aside from that, I got some more essay work done, and packed a little bit to go back to school on Thursday. I had to ride my bike to work today, but other than that, not much interesting happened.

Today I got on a USATKD zoom meeting about nutrition for competition. I watched a little bit of my sisters' soccer game, went and ordered some new shoes and got a new swimsuit. I also replaced my sunglasses that I got in California that I proceeded to lose right afterwards. I worked on Double Stick 2. Hopefully I can make it look nice by the end of this week. Anyway, goodnight y'all!

Today I went to the Poke Fest and looked at some more Pokemon Cards (and got a few, including a shiny Kingambit). I am still working on essay work before school starts up, and had a good black belt class this morning. Classes today went well, and it was a little less hectic despite Saturday mornings being our busiest time. I emailed the University of Minnesota's Taekwondo club to see if I could go over there to train while I'm up there as well. Anyway, I will see everyone later!

I was going to go to Harrisburg for class but ultimately decided not to, since I still needed to work on Double Stick 2. I am trying to get that down and commit it to memory as much as possible. I have the recordings for it, but it is kind of fast. Other than class, I went to the gym, got cycle workouts done. and got breakfast with my sisters. Not much happened today, but I am grateful for having a chill day.

Day 2 of color belt testing! My car broke down again (It seems to have done so a lot this summer), so my sisters had to use the Prius to get to school, and I was left with no car, so I had to ride my bike to work. Testing today had more people than yesterday, which is to be expected, especially with the red and high red belt testing at the end of the day. I ended up staying at the dojang until around 8:30, so I got home pretty late. We have 5 new bocho dan belts, so I hope to see them at future black belt classes.

So today we had the shortest two color belt testings (if you don't count make-up testings) I think I've ever seen in my time working at King Tiger. 3 people came to test at 4:00 and 10 showed up at 6:00. The 4:00 testing was done in less than 30 minutes, giving us over 90 minutes of in-between time where we weren't really doing much. Unfortunately, I was still in quite a bit of pain right around my heel, stretching already was way more painful than it should have been because of that, so I mostly just spent that time stretching (I'm still working on flexibility goals, and I have gotten to the point where I gotta stretch every day, otherwise it doesn't feel right). Workouts this morning were somewhat painful due to that, so getting them knocked out felt that much more rewarding. I got the first win of the...

Today was the final day of preparing people for testing. I woke up early and did normal cycle workouts. Work was pretty straightforward if not once again harder than it was last week. Great news: my knee isn't bugging me so much when I do my stretching anymore! Not so great news: my ankle is once again in a lot of pain similar to earlier in the summer. I hope it's better tomorrow. Anyway, I am anticipating being able to make some progress in a breaking routine and a creative form once I can get an hour or two just by myself to do a bit of training. I hope I can find some time to get somewhere to do that.

Many of us who were working during summer camp are going back to school, which doesn't leave a lot of us for the last week of summer camp. We are also transitioning to afterschool, so there's also those classes that now go on. Nothing too special went on today, other than me preparing the students for color belt testing this week. I also worked on Hap Ki Do forms with my mentees and worked more on essays when I got home after dinner. I'm about to do some stretching, so I'll see everyone later!

Today I didn't have much to do, other than the poomsae watch party and a couple of essays that I had to take care of. I did a few cycle workouts, nothing too much today, and I was going to go to recfest at UNCC (to get to know the Taekwondo club and the team I was going to be training with while I'm here) but decided I was going to spend some time catching up with essay work before I eventually have to go and do schoolwork in 2 weeks or so. I am thinking about contacting the U of M's Taekwondo club to see if they compete or have individuals who compete, as that is a place that I can potentially go to for training when I'm away. It's also another way to escape a small school that, while it's great that classes are not far away at all...

Today I got up and did my normal Saturday morning routine, consisting of black belt class, teaching, and Jason's Deli for lunch (They brought back the salt and vinegar chips, y'all!). I went to the self-defense seminar, and it was very helpful for many of the black belt self-defenses. It answered a lot of the questions I had about them and showed me more of the smaller details that are hard to pick up on. Even as long as I've been doing them, and as much as I believe I know these self-defenses very well, it is a reminder that there is still a lot more to practice and a lot to keep in mind when I practice these self defenses every day, especially when I regularly teach them.

Today I slept in a little. It was my day off so I went over to my grandmother's friend's house and got a recipe for making sweet and sour chicken for my family, and I went home and worked on some essays before class. I went to class and then ended up eating the dinner with my family. It was pretty good, and the fact that I hadn't eaten for an entire 24 hours before that made it taste even better. I did a few rounds of Fortnite (the season is still kinda trash not gonna lie) and got in what I could in the way of workouts.

I dragged myself out of bed to do workouts, did my Chinese online lesson for the day, worked on essays, and then went to work. Work was a lot today, with afterschool starting and my voice starting to go away, so I couldn't talk as loud as I am used to. At home I ate some BBQ before doing more essay work and sitting down to play Fortnite. So far, I am not a fan of this season, but I have only played three games, so I will judge it more thoroughly whenever I get the time to do so.

It still rained a little bit, but it was overall nice outside when I went out to do my morning run. Today I worked on double stick form 2, the one form I am still trying to figure out at this point, and I can finally log my stuff on the site! Hopefully it won't take too long to update all of the hard work I've put in over the past few weeks. I'll see y'all tomorrow!

Today I woke up later, had to start on workouts later as well. I got some more NC State essays done, as well as my essay on the prehistory of Korea. I spent a lot of time at King Tiger pretty tired and hungry, but I was able to power through it. Hopefully tomorrow isn't as rough as today was.

Today I did some poomsae recordings! I fixed a few bad habits with Koryo, and this was the second competition where I filmed Sipjin. I still have a lot to fix, but I've progressed a lot from when I started doing poomsae competitions. Unfortunately, sparring training was not on for today, so I decided to get my requirements done (and do a little bit of Pokemon Go afterwards) during that time. After that, I was pretty tired. I put in the work this week, so I decided to take a short nap.

Today I got to go to collect-a-con! It was pretty fun. I got a few cards, a few themed Pokeballs, and some super rare Giyu Tomioka crocs, signed by Johnny Bosch, the VA of Giyu (and as it turns out, Vash the Stampede as well), among other things. It was definitely worth the excitement and the money. I know a few people who are going tomorrow, but I'm busy all day so I will unfortunately not be able to be there then.

Today was my day off work, so I used this to work on essays. Both for the black belt cycle and for transfer applications. While I know where I'm going to be at next semester, the semester after that is still up in the air, so I have a few plans in mind. After class, I worked on poomsaes for recording on Sunday.

I spent much of the morning getting new tires and getting my car fixed. While it was getting fixed, I went out on an excursion with Pokémon Go, because I still gotta catch 'em all. The day went by quickly. Time flies when I'm having fun, and sometimes it goes too fast. I am currently in the process of getting a cosplay together for this weekend at Collect-a-con.

Today I didn't do much other than work and black belt cycle workouts. Fortunately, the internet at my house is back though. My dad and my sisters came back from Ontario last night, so I actually got to see them more tonight. My car had a flat tire and the engine was starting to overheat again. Hopefully I will have some more interesting things to share with you all tomorrow.

I'm sore all over from the ID camp... coming back to work after being away was fun, though. Unfortunately, the tracking on the site is messed up still, something I have to fix, as is the internet at my house. I am typing this using my phone's hotspot. Hopefully that gets fixed, because I have a lot that I need it for. Anyway, I had to drag myself through cycle workouts this morning, but my training doesn't stop, so here I am. I've also noticed that my sleep patterns have become more regular. I'm sleepier earlier on, a sign that I've put a lot of work into the day. On that note, I'm going to get some sleep for tomorrow.

Well, today was the second and final day of the talent ID camp. I got to spar with a bunch of the other people in the camp, and overall I got to learn a lot about the modern sport and saw my progress, where I was doing very well with, and what I needed to improve on for competition. Also, I got introduced to the UNCC Taekwondo club and their coach. They train at North Charlotte, so they recognized me from my King Tiger gear. Needless to say, I will be spending my Sunday afternoons training with them.

So I spent today at the USATKD Talent ID camp... and I am sore all over from training and fighting. I got a few bruises on my arms and legs, both my legs are sore, moving my right elbow is painful, and I got a mark under my right eye from being kicked hard in the face. The others in the camp were all similarly beat up, and they were handing out ice packs at the end of the day. Guess what? Tomorrow, I get to do it again! Most of the people here went to nationals in California a week after Hanmadang, and it's really fun sparring at that skill level, even if it's a little painful. Anyway, one thing I found interesting is that they are actually very lax on the rules around cut kicks. Internet here is still down (the reason why I didn't journal yesterday) so I am...

Today I came home from Ontario. I spent a lot of time in the airport and started working on some essays, but the wi-fi was incredibly bad, so that didn't go as far as I wanted. After getting dinner and coming home, I got some workouts in, including 2 miles of running right after a session of walking around and catching Pokémon. I'm about to go to sleep because I have a golf game to get to early tomorrow.

Today is my birthday. I'm a year older. I went to various places around the lake, swam, went back to Eel's Creek, tried paddling a canoe while balancing on the gunwale (preparation for the regatta that some of the others are participating in), ate a good dinner, and ended the day by watching the Karate Kid. Tomorrow I am coming back home, so I am packing what I can right now. I won't be able to be at this cycle's pretest (I did my pretest a while ago and I have the sparring ID camp to go to) but hopefully I will see many of you soon!

Today we went to the falls at the end of the lake. I've been there pretty much every year, and today the water level wasn't too high to the point where it would give the rapids too much force. I also did some long-distance swimming around a group of islands, the island I am on right now being one of them. We also prepared for the regatta and the boat races that I won't be able to do this year. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I hope that will be fun.

Yes folks, it is extraordinarily hot (92 degrees Fahrenheit) here in Ontario as well! I escaped the comparatively more extreme heat of North Carolina temporarily, but it still is hot for where I am. Unfortunately, I am still unable to log my workouts on the site. However, I am still getting some things in for when I can track them. Today I went to a nearby creek and found a rope swing. It was damaged by the tornado that went through here 3 years ago, but it was still fun to swing across into the creek. I did my normal swim, as it is hard to run on a small island where everything is covered in overgrowth, so I get some long-distance swims in for my training. I'm trying to hold stretches longer in my stretching routine to meet some flexibility goals by the end of August. Hopefully tomorrow won't be...

Today was a windy day, so I didn't swim as far as I did yesterday (yesterday I swam almost a mile and a half), but I did do a bit of sailing, and I worked on clearing out the back of the island, about 80 percent of which is covered in overgrowth and hard to get to. Maybe when it's hotter and less windy tomorrow I can swim longer distances. I completed one of the days of my digital detox yesterday. I have found that it is much easier when I'm on an island away from home. Unfortunately, I have not been able to log my progress on this site, and in the past 2 weeks, I have quite a lot of progress to log.

Today I went to Ontario. Second time this year. I usually end up going twice in the summer. After getting here, I immediately had to do some swimming in the lake. I also came back to some of the best ice cream ever in my opinion. I won't be able to be here for the mile swim this year, but I can still do some long-distance open water swimming with my sisters and their friends that they took here.

Today went well. I had breakfast with my grandfather and a group of his friends, all of which are retired and meet up for breakfast at least once a month. I had to pack for tomorrow, as I am leaving for Ontario. Taekwondo went well, and I got to do some sparring with the people on the black belt cycle. Sparring classes are always way more fun when the black belt cycle is in progress because more people are required to be there. Today was tiring, just as much as the past three days this week, so I am going to go get some sleep in before I have to go tomorrow.

I'm not sure what it was, but I was sleepy most of the day, despite getting more sleep than yesterday. I ended up waking up later for morning workouts than I wanted to, and I almost forgot about my online Mandarin lesson scheduled today, one of many this summer in order to keep myself from getting too rusty for next year. Classes today were fun, and I got to nerd out about some poomsae details that I probably would not have gotten to know if it weren't for last week while preparing some people on the cycle for the upcoming pre-test.

Not too eventful a Tuesday. Work was fun. I for sure needed some caffeine today, because I felt like I was dragging myself through requirements. I did get some practice holding kicks with my new ankle weights. I'm going to add that to my routine.

This week, I am at my grandparents' house, remembering that training here was how I started my first black belt cycle. I was able to get in a fair bit of requirements today, and I am currently working on my USATKD account so I can go to an event in early August.

Overall, going to the 2025 World Taekwondo Hanmadang in Anaheim was super fun, and being in such a large competition is something I really enjoyed doing, and something I want to try more of when I can. The poomsae competition especially was very competitive, as I was up against some of the best in the world. I do a lot of poomsae recordings, but very rarely do I get to see competition at such an advanced level in person, and here I got the ability to see what progress I can still make as a martial artist, and how I've grown since I started competing. On the demo team, my abilities progressed quickly in a short amount of time, and at Shoreview I was able to pick up some new things from different people, even some things that made me rethink how I trained. I hope to continue trying my hand...

Yesterday and today I put in quite a bit of work, both for the black belt cycle and for preparation for Hanmadang. I am excited to go. I hope I get some sleep on the plane because I have to get up in less than 5 hours to make it to my flight. I am currently still packing and checking my schedule, unfortunately. I have an uncanny ability of always finishing things up right at the last minute, never any earlier.

Today, after a little bit of training for Hanmadang and going through all of my black belt forms, as well as a self defense session, I went bowling for the first time in about 3 years (at least if I'm not forgetting anything, it is possible). Last time I remember going bowling was during the last black belt retreat I had, for my 2nd Dan test, on the same day I had my cycle meeting for the cycle leading up to my 3rd dan test. Anyway, I went with some King Tiger buddies that you all likely know, and invited quite a lot more, but only a few could show up. Maybe we'll do it again sometime or go to the movies like we used to back when we were all still around all year training and teaching together.

Today was the first day of the black belt cycle, and unfortunately, since I was busy today, I did not make it to Harrisburg for training this afternoon. I did watch Superman, and I'd say it's a good watch. It's a stark contrast from Henry Cavill's Superman and that DC continuity iteration, being more like previous comic iterations. I got a good start on physical requirements today and hope to do more tomorrow as I train for Hanmadang.

Hey everyone! It's time for cycle number two for me! Number one was a bit rocky to be honest, although with all of the things that I was doing, that can be expected. What wasn't expected for me is all of the various things that have taken place up to this point, which have culminated in me being unsure where I was going to go next year. I just recently got done figuring that out. I enjoyed a bit of rest today because I'm gonna need it if I'm going to make this black belt cycle the best one I've done yet. I hope to see many of you tomorrow at black belt class! Also, for you newcomers out there, if anyone has any questions or needs anything (relating to curriculum, mentor-mentee sessions, anything with the black belt cycle, or just to chat if necessary), feel free to talk to me...

Congratulations on everyone testing!  I wasn't there to see it but I know everyone did a great job.  The tea ceremony is next week, so I am excited to see people getting their new belts, if anyone wants to send me pictures.  Shoreview is closed this week because it's their spring break, so I won't be making it there this week unfortunately...

This is the end of the spring cycle... for many of you, it is testing day.  For me, I still have farther to go with a lot of things.  This cycle was by far the most challenging of all my black belt cycles thus far for many reasons.  Now that I'm at a place much different from anything I've had at home, I had to get used to what my life now is, and I've had to deal with things that I've never come across before at home when I had a set way of doing things for years.  I started the black belt cycle strong and was very excited to take the next step in my Taekwondo journey after feeling disconnected from the community I had at home for the first time.  This community has been there for me for most of my life in a way that no person...

I spent all night last night on the bus from Saint Paul to Chicago.  Today I walked around the city with my friends.  We weren't sure what to go to, so I ended up calling up my dad, as he knows the city and I don't.  Last time I have been to Chicago I was 1 year old.  We visited a park in the suburbs and a Chinatown mini-market.  I got my sisters birthday presents for their birthday coming up.

Today was the start of Spring Break.  Everything was very slow.  Most people have left, and unfortunately the gym is closed, so I'm doing a lot of requirements either in my dorm or outside.  That was fine though, since today was a pretty good day outside.  The meal hours at the buffet are weird now.  I spent a lot of the day catching up with friends and trying to solve things that I wouldn't be able to think about with school on.

I am finally done with the first half of the semester!  And I am ready for spring break.  I got the $3.14 pizza, but this year, it was at Tono's, not at the Blaze near UNCC that I got it at in years past.  Speaking of food, I got all-you-can-eat fish and chips with my aunts and my friend, which was fun.  Anyway, I hope this spring break is restful and the next half of the semester goes better than the first.

Today was mostly uneventful, other than a midterm.  I'd say I did alright on it, especially since it was for an 8:30 class.  I'm in the middle of doing some homework and a revision for a previous test.  2 more school days until spring break!

This past weekend, I went out skiing with my aunts and my cousin for the last time this season, since it's already warming up here.  I stayed at my aunt's house for that entire weekend.  With everything I have been doing in the past few weeks, I needed a bit of space from everything, so it was good that I stayed there.  I finally got 6 hours of sleep in one night, which has got to be a record high for this semester.  Yesterday, I got an email from residential life saying that I was one of 6 people that got in the Chinese House!  I replied and said yes, and now I know where I'm going to be living next year!  I'm excited, and I already know next semester is going to start way better off for me than this one.  Anyway, I have to go study for an exam...

This past week has been a slow week.  Partially because of all of the work I have been doing and all of the time spent being a zombie from little to no sleep.  Hopefully I can fix that next week and over spring break.  Going to my aunt's house to get caught up on a few things away from where I'm normally at has helped a little.  Hopefully skiing tomorrow will be fun, although it will be pretty warm for skiing and will probably be the last chance I can do it before it warms up here.  Anyway, the time change to daylight savings time is about to take place.  This time change in particular gets on my nerves.  My internal clock is already messed up enough without the time change.

Yeah, whatever I'm trying to achieve right now is very much not sustainable in the way I'm doing it.  I am currently over at my aunt's house because I really had to get away from things.  Maybe I can actually get some undisturbed sleep.  And catch up on my tracking on the site.  Hopefully I can catch up on a lot of things this weekend.

Another day spent on doing homework, except this time, I don't have an annotated bibliography looming over my head.  Things are going slow this week due to me being busy and tired.  I got a lot more work to do, so I will catch everyone later.

I have fallen behind on a lot of things.  I have fallen behind on sleep.  I don't have much energy.  But I have so much to do for tomorrow and the next day and the next.  It's been an entire month of this... I can't wait until summer, until next year.  I will probably be in a better place for things by the time when the fall semester rolls around.  But for now, it's just back to pure pain.  And using the last of my energy to force that pain out of my mind.  Sleep is a luxury.  Being well rested and being in a good headspace is a privilege.  I have been trying to be a lot of things for a lot of people, amid failure after failure this semester when things went downhill.  I'm writing this at 11 central time, but I feel the weight of no sleep on...

Yeah, March Fools everyone... it's not spring break for me yet.  At least not for 2 weeks.  I'm planning on going to Chicago for spring break with my friends.  That might be cool.  For now, I have a lot of homework to do, and an annotated bibliography that I have due very soon.

I had a lot of things I had to deal with this weekend...  I started doing more rock climbing though.  I found that to be calming.  That, and burying myself in homework.  This is going to be a long semester.  I'm really not sure how it's going to go.  I got some mango ice cream with hot sauce.  It sounded crazy but it actually tasted good.  I missed Instructor Camp a lot.  This was the first time that I haven't gone to Instructor Camp.  I miss that community, where everything was easy to understand.

I stayed up a bit later than normal last night, and I'm probably going to do the same today.  If I can't sleep, I might as well spend some time studying for my Chinese test tomorrow.  I made it to Shoreview today.  Felt good to get some training in amid a very long week.  Tomorrow's first class is canceled, so I get to wake up an hour later.  Tonight, I have to work on homework and studying.

Well, halfway there.  I am once again writing this as I am about to go to a midnight gym session.  I have a little bit of homework left to do but I got most of it done.  My 7pm to 10pm class is a bit hard to sit through, since I'm not really the type of person who can sit through things for a long period of time without getting sleepy, even if it is a very interesting topic.  Also, I have a Chinese exam to study for, and it's on Friday.  Hopefully I will have better luck with that than I did with exams in the past 3 weeks.

I know, right?  Sad.  No 540 kicks.  Well, it's back to the usual grind of homework.  It's just gotten really rough this semester.  If I'm being entirely honest, I'm just trying to stick it out until I can return to Charlotte in May.  Last semester was the fun semester, but this semester is like the tragic sequel nobody wants to watch and everyone deems non-canon in their own mind because it was so bad.  Yikes.

And a lot more issues to deal with.  This is the first time I've had a spring black belt cycle, and it really shows.  I'm not used to having to do most of the cycle with a bunch of other things to deal with.  Speaking of things to deal with, I have a lab report due in about 50 minutes.  I will see everyone later.

Today I did some work on my lab report due Monday.  Aside from that, I was able to go to rock climbing today, the first time this school year where I was able to go.  That was fun but tiring.  I got a big dinner when I got back, and I am currently about to go celebrate my friend's birthday.

I woke up and went through my normal onslaught of morning classes, which meant I was done early, as normal.  I had a few other things to do, but overall, I was able to take a short nap and regain some of the lost sleep from the week.  Martial arts club was fun, and I was able to watch some anime as well with Anime Club.  I'm now going back to my usual Friday schedule.  Maybe I might watch a movie before going to sleep.

And it needed to happen sooner.  I was so sleep deprived that I couldn't do much today and just passed out in my dorm for 3 hours.  Now I'm staying up doing homework, no surprise there.  Gotta lock in for tomorrow and then I can go ahead and... well not sleep, because I have to do black belt cycle requirements to finish the week strong.  This semester is definitely extremely draining, and today it showed.

I'm starting to get the vibe that it's a hard semester here for everyone.  That's why nobody's showing up at clubs anymore.  That's why there's so much drama and complications all of a sudden here.  That's why I find it hard talking to my friends.  I was on edge about everything thus far.  Today I was on edge about a call with an astronomy professor in Arizona who was working with us on research with Be stars.  I wasn't sure what it was about but I didn't think it was going to be anything good given all of the events of this semester thus far.  However, it turned out that he saw that I was interested in that field of research and called to ask if I wanted to be part of a small group that had a few additional roles in the research over the semester.  I unfortunately had to...

Today I got to take a break from my homework for a little while for training at Martial Arts club.  Nobody shows up anymore, so the few of us who are consistently there all have various martial arts backgrounds and are pretty decent at sparring, so we just mess around and spar all the time.  There was a time earlier last semester where a lot more people showed up and there were actual lessons, but since nobody is there anymore, that doesn't happen as much.  That's one of the many reasons why last semester was way better than this one.  I miss last semester.  I'm probably not going to shut up about missing last semester, but it's the way things are thus far.  I am trying to fix it by advertising the club and telling people about it, but so far it doesn't seem to be working.  Maybe everyone is as busy as I...

I couldn't think of a title.  I'm still catching up on stuff.  This semester is a lot.  I had no idea it was going to be like this.  It's also super cold outside.  The high is 253.7 Kelvins.  That's -3 degrees Fahrenheit.  I wonder if one of these days I can try pouring boiling water out and letting it freeze, provided it can eventually reach that temperature.  I don't know if it usually gets that cold though.  It's gonna have to dip about 30 more degrees (Fahrenheit, not Kelvin), but I wouldn't be surprised.

I don't really know what other people do on Sundays, but for me, it's homework and more training sessions.  I typically wake up very late on Sunday mornings, usually at around noon, but over where I'm at, nobody wakes up early on weekends anyway.  I tried to go to the gym and then to breakfast the first Saturday morning I was here at around 7:45 AM and I was literally told to go back to sleep.  Anyway, I am still doing homework as we speak, chilling in the lounge with some friends.  I will see everyone later since I have to get up tomorrow, and the sooner I can do homework, the sooner I can sleep.

I don't really know what people do on Valentine's Day.  For me, it's training.  Oh, and snowball fights, at least now that I'm in a place with a lot of snow.  And, of course, Cobra Kai, because it came out yesterday, the last part of the last season.  I am about to watch it.  And I came prepared with a lot of chocolate.  That's the other thing to do on Valentine's Day.  Cobra Kai Never Dies!

Today I got to catch up on sleep.  I finally got in an afternoon nap.  It felt good after taking a test at 8:30 in the morning, although the test itself was way easier than I thought it would be.  Went to another tea social.  Other than that, I didn't really do much out of the ordinary today.

Today went by very quickly.  I had two classes, one of which was just me apparently.  So turns out multiple people switched out that lab class because everyone thought it was too late.  Guess I might have to switch it a third time.  Anyway, I later went to martial arts class and did some Muay Thai sparring.  After that, I went to Shoreview and in class tried to see if I could get a 540 hook kick with the leg that I don't usually do it with.  That's coming along.  Anyway, I got some more post-midnight homework to do, so I will see everyone later.

Seems as if everything's a constant game of catch-up.  Last week was a terrible week, and now I have to catch up on quite a few things here at Macalester.  That just comes with a lot more lost sleep.  I wish I had time to sleep in the afternoons, because I need that to make sure I am actually well rested.  Oh well.  I guess I will have to catch up on sleep on the weekends.  I'm about to go do another midnight gym session.  Later, y'all.

Yesterday I went to the lunar new year celebration, and won a raffle and got a lot of tea.  I can at least put that tea set to use.  I went to the ice castles at the state fairgrounds.  That was cold and windy.  I went back to meet up with a friend for food, and then spent the rest of the day doing homework and normal black belt cycle things.  Hopefully I can find people to watch Cobra Kai with me next week.

Took my anger out on some weights at the gym once again yesterday.  I was hungry and had no sleep, but that's all I could do.  Classes were a blur again.  I went to an ice hockey game with my friend.  We celebrated but I had to go up to bed because to be honest I was going to drag the party down with my issues.  Woke up this morning to go to class, and that has currently been the one good thing that has happened all week.  I got in another gym session right after class and getting forms and stuff done. The black belt cycle became an afterthought this week.  But yesterday and today, this was the only thing that could distract me from everything.  I needed this to have some sense of direction and purpose. Today I am going to a Lunar New Year event.  I was one...

It's interesting how there are days where surreal things do in fact happen out of the blue, but more often than not, they are outlandish in a bad way.  The days where things that are surreal in a good way are much fewer, and much more far between.  Surreal things that we want to see often take a lot of work to achieve.  They don't just happen out of nowhere, and they unfortunately are fewer and farther between.  Things that are outlandishly bad that you don't want to believe happen just happen.  And they're way more frequent.  And the work comes after, to try to make things go back to normal.  Although, normal is a relative term.  The normal that I had here so far has been pretty short, depending on how you define it.  If I am to define it from when I was anticipating Tiger Claw and the demo,...

Today I woke up and went to class.  Couldn't focus on the class much.  Had stuff I was dealing with yesterday.  I realized I needed to change my Chinese lab schedule, but I then promptly had to change it back after realizing that this one wasn't going to work.  Guess things are going back to business as usual.  Well, hopefully without distractions, that is.  I got a lot of homework to keep myself busy.  That and Martial Arts Club.  Didn't exactly make it to Shoreview today.  Had a lot to do.  Yesterday left me a lot to do.

Today was a drag.  The last part of today was a drag.  I just spent 6 hours dealing with things I wish I didn't have to deal with.  I was going to check out the Creative Writing club, but I couldn't bring myself to go.  I couldn't really bring myself to do much after 6 today.  Some of the stuff from last semester is starting to affect this one.  And now I'm sick of falling down.

Today I woke up to go skiing with my aunt.  Now that I am closer to where my aunt lives, I can go skiing more often.  I had plans to invite someone else last time I went but it kind of fell through.  Both times I have skied within the school year were fun though.  Skiing takes my mind off all this workload I have.  After that I went to my usual gym session to get in requirements and also because I like torturing myself (Again, takes my mind off things).  I finished the day with some schoolwork and a session of Mario Party with my friends.

Hello again everyone!  It's finally Friday.  This week was hard, but it's finally over.  I plan on going skiing with my aunt tomorrow.  Today after my normal onslaught of 3 classes in a row, I was working on learning how to code the electronics for our high-power rocket, a part of the rocket that I have not done before, but I am interested in learning how to do.  After that, I went to do a gym session and went to this semester's club fair and signed up for a few clubs.  I don't know if I will have time for them on top of what I'm doing, but I have found that being kept busy is good for me.  I went to an event for the first years, and I found a lot of my friends there, although I did feel a bit out of my element.

Today went by kind of fast.  I was hoping to have a lot of free time, but that kind of went down the drain with the amount of homework I found out I had.  Taekwondo at Shoreview was good again today.  I get an idea of what I need to work on when I'm there.  Also, I had my first high-power rocketry club meeting of the semester!  We might be doing a competition at the end of the semester, so stay tuned...  Will probably work on more of that tomorrow.  Anyway, it's 4 minutes to midnight here, so I'm going to get off and continue with my homework.   #bread

Chinese New Year is a bit of an event at Macalester, given that we have a large number of students here from China.  I went to a tea social today, the first one of this semester (I was a regular at the tea socials last semester), and I was going to go to the big event they were having, but today was the first day of an astronomy research course that I have that goes from 7 to 10.   I usually don't like doing night classes, as they mess up my schedule of eating dinner super late, but the course itself seems fun.  Unfortunately, these are the sparring days at Shoreview but I won't be able to go much due to my class being at the same time.  I have quite a bit of homework to do, and I am also about to go do a midnight gym session.

Tuesdays are worse than Mondays in my opinion.  You have a lot of work cut out for you and you still have most of the week ahead of you.  I am currently dealing with a huge wave of homework.  At least I'm in my "locked in" mood.  Anyway, I had another black belt class at Shoreview and worked on my 540 hook kicks.  I think the trick on getting a good 540 hook kick is to visualize 3 kicks and to do them stepping forward before you actually do the kick.  That helped me today.  Hope I have time to do more fun stuff around Macalester tomorrow.

Today I got up to do my morning marathon of classes.  I was reminded why I rely on caffeine so much when I didn't have any before my 8:30 class.  I ate lunch and had a lab to go to later on, and then I had to pick up a bunch of packages.  I got on a call where I saw a lot of people from King Tiger back at home, which made my day.  I miss everyone back at home.  As fun as it is here, nothing and nobody I have encountered here as of yet can really replace that.  Anyway, I went to the gym afterwards to get some requirements done, and I am now doing some homework, after midnight EST, because I really didn't watch the time.  My first class tomorrow starts at 9:40, so I can look forward to an extra hour of sleep.

This week is going to be the first full week of classes this semester.  I have created a schedule of morning classes so that if I am trying to catch up on anything, I can do so in the afternoon, sleep included.  I think I mentioned this in a previous journal.  Anyway, I now have a time to catch up on sleep if I don't get much through the day, which happens pretty frequently between homework and sleep issues.  I would have time to take a nap for a while and then get up to do whatever it is that I still need to do.  I'm not much of a morning person but it's worth the extra torture.

Today I had the first zoom-in black belt class in about 5 years!  It was 7:15 Central, so I had to wake up an hour earlier than usual to show up for it.  After that, I practiced some falls and rolls just right there on the floor.  The floor isn't all that soft so I would not recommend doing this all the time but I wanted to make sure my falls and rolls were up to speed fully. I went ice skating later on, the first time I have done so since I was 8 years old.  Teaching myself how to do that again was fun.  I didn't fall there except for one time when my friend jokingly pushed me over.  The ice is less fun to fall on.  Anyway, my friends are texting me to get over to where they are so I have to go.  See you all soon!

Today didn't really feel like a Friday.  Maybe it was because I just got back on Wednesday.  I had my first taste of back-to-back morning classes.  I'm not much of a morning person.  Getting up to work out in the morning is one thing, but using a bunch of brain power that early is a different challenge.  However, my schedule is formatted as such that I can nap in the afternoon if I need to, and even after that I would still have time to do everything I need to do, schoolwork and black belt cycle requirements.  Well, that's all I really did today.  That's the other thing.  I normally don't do schoolwork on Friday nights, but here I am.  So this doesn't really feel like a Friday, but I guess I'm just locked in.  I will see you all over zoom eventually.

Greetings, Pokefans! Today I got my school schedule fixed!  It was also the first day of school, and I had all of one class to get to.  After that, I went on a long journey through the frozen wasteland while I was taking stage 2 cold damage to Target to buy me some sweet tea.  It's a lifesaver here where you don't find very much of it.  Got me through all three of my black belt tests in the past. I had another day training at Shoreview.  The grandmaster there did not get the email I sent him, as of now I am not exactly sure why.  I discussed being on the black belt cycle at King Tiger with him.  Also, it turns out my black belt cycle will be a bit longer than expected.  Well, sort of.  He said he was fine with helping me but requested that I test...

Today was the last day before classes.  My main goal for the day was to fix my class schedule.  Registration was a bit difficult last semester.  Not as difficult as UNCC, but still a bit annoying.  Mostly because they don't let you register between their select window and the add/drop period, which I wasn't prepared for as they don't restrict you from doing so at UNCC.  I also was able to see a lot of people I have not seen in a month. Up here in Minnesota, I train at Lee's Champion Taekwondo in Shoreview.  It's a ways away from Macalester, so it's often difficult to get there, but I usually get rides from people when possible.  For my first class at this dojang, I made the mistake of trying to take the bus there, and the bus doesn't go all the way there, so I had to run for a...

...but it's way colder here in Saint Paul.  Yesterday I was out launching rockets at the JMA field.  One of them got lost because it got picked up by enough wind to blow it to the nearby forest. Today, I flew on a very delayed flight to Minnesota.  Well, sort of.  I had the wrong ticket.  Oops.  So I was able to go home for a few hours and knock out some requirements before I flew over.  After coming here, I got some training at the Shoreview dojang.  Now, my issue is figuring out my schedule.

I have a stretching routine that I have been doing pretty consistently for about 4 years.  I originally started it because I wanted to improve my flexibility and see how long it would take me to get a full split, but I have been consistent with it for as long as I have because it doesn't feel normal without doing it every once in a while anymore.  Even at Macalester when I am not going anywhere, I will do my stretching routine right in my dorm next to my bed.  Occasionally, you will catch me to the side stretching in between classes at King Tiger, and sometimes I do it without thinking.  In fact, I am probably going to do a few minutes of stretching right after writing this post.  I was asked in one of my classes last semester if there was any particular ritual I had that I would feel...

Today was pretest day!  I haven't had one of those in a minute.  It was good seeing everyone on the cycle and reminded me of when I was on the cycle for the first time.  I feel like this is a strong start to the next few weeks of training.  Anyway, I am writing this after a nap because I decided to catch up on the sleep that I'm not going to get over the school year.  I just thought of my YouTube channel sometime during my pretest.  It's been a year since I posted on the new one.  I might think about dropping a video or three in a bit, depending on how busy I am.

Greetings Pokefans! Today was the first sparring class, and probably the last sparring class I am going to be able to get at Lake Norman for the black belt cycle.  This morning during training, I felt a bit rusty with some poomsaes compared to when I was doing recordings for them.  That could also be because I had just woken up.  I am feeling sore from getting in so many extra requirements in yesterday. 2024 was a good year for me.  For a good portion of the year, I had just a few things to focus on, and I was able to do a lot because of that.  Over the course of the year, I grew a lot as a martial artist, between being able to be at the dojang a little bit more due to being a part-time student at UNCC, being on the demo team, and later on training at another...

Today was a quiet day.  I got a few requirements in, but not the large amount that I thought I was going to get in.  Everyone else was away at school, so I took that time to catch up on the sleep I don't get while I'm at school.  I also ended up replacing a light for my grandparents.  On my first black belt cycle, I started to feel extremely sore on my third or fourth day.  I tried to start getting into a normal routine this time to avoid getting that sore right at the beginning.  Anyway, my run path is still partially frozen over.  Tomorrow is forecasted to be colder than today so I'm not sure if it's going to fully melt even by then.

Today was a normal day at King Tiger for me.  School started already for everyone.  I'm still here enjoying my winter break, and although everyone I know is busy, I can get in some extra black belt cycle requirements.  This week is also a quiet time to catch up on things that I don't have much time for otherwise.  Books to read, games to play, shows to watch (and I am most definitely going to nerd out in my journal entries, so expect that from me in the future), calls to make, model rockets to launch, and maybe a few other things that I can't think of right now.  Anyway, I think that's enough for today.  I will see everyone later.

This morning, I had to deal with some ice that remained on my run path while I was going for my run.  For part of the run, I wasn't so much running as I was hopelessly sliding on the icy pavement, with nothing I could really do to slow myself down.  Yesterday there was still snow everywhere, which reminded me of Macalester a bit. Snow is supposed to be rare.  It's supposed to be a special thing, something that happens not even once a year, maybe once every 3 years.  When it snows, everything stops.  Nobody goes anywhere.  School gets canceled.  Everyone goes outside all day to shovel driveways, slide down hills, or throw snowballs while it lasts.  It is, after all, a rare event to behold.  Then it quickly melts and everything goes back to normal.  At least that's how it was for my life while I was here. When I was...

Today was the first day of the black belt cycle, so I decided to get a good start with requirements early.  And by early, I mean right after midnight.  My sleep schedule is weird like that.  Anyway, this afternoon, once I was done with everything, I went to Ichibancon for the second time after I went on Thursday.  The events were different, and I got to see a cosplay competition.  The cosplays were all very detailed and impressive, and must take a lot of time.  I wish I could put together things like that.  Maybe next time I can get someone to go with me.  I usually don't have much time for anime conventions like this but there are some this summer that I plan on going to.

I am kind of excited and nervous for this test, but I know this will most likely push me to do my best today and tomorrow.

Today was a teacher workday, so I had a free schedule.  I didn't have to go to school in the morning, and I am grateful for a break like that.  I played some golf in the afternoon, the first time I played since the end of summer vacation.  Since my dad had to drop my sisters off at soccer, I had to bike to Tae Kwon Do, but it was worth it because I got to work on some of the final things before testing, including my breaking routine.  I anticipated that to be the hardest part of testing, but I actually did pretty good after that extra time practicing it.

Today, I did my last sparring class for the cycle, even though I already had the required sparring classes.  It was fun even though I didn't get to spar Nate.  I was sore from the weightlifting I did yesterday, but that didn't stop me from doing good in my sparring rounds!  Tomorrow is a teacher workday, and I am off school, so I will be able to relax then.

Today after school I learned that Cross Country would be working with Indoor Track at my school for the rest of the Cross Country season.  We didn't do any running, as we were weightlifting instead today.  Later, I went to Tae Kwon Do and got my last Leadership 2 credit, and I worked on a lot of poomsaes there too.  I also got a lot of my homework done.  Today was a pretty productive day.

Today was a normal Sunday, somewhat boring as usual.  I started filming my next YouTube video, but I got stuck as I didn't have any good voice actor for Toad.  This week will be a 3 day school week, as I have Wednesday as a teacher workday and I am taking the day off on Friday so I won't be tired from school on testing night.

Today, I had 3 tests in school, and the good thing about tests is the fact that there's not as much homework afterwards.  I am planning on going to sparring and black belt class tomorrow, and I will have a pretty chill weekend for the most part.

Today was a normal day, other than the fact that I got to spend the night at my grandparents' house.  They are usually pretty chill, and they make good food as well, and when I am busy with school during the week, I usually don't get to see them much, with the exception being this week, as I got to stay with them on Sunday too.  I am satisfied so far with what I did this week, and I don't have as many requirements to deal with at this point, even though I am so used to doing them.

Yesterday was sparring class, and it was pretty productive.  Today was too, and with my mentor today, I worked on my breaking routine for testing.  I think that it will most likely be the biggest challenge of testing for me.

Today I got all of my push-ups finished, and I felt very satisfied with getting it out of the way.  I felt like today was a relatively productive day at Tae Kwon Do and at school.  I still need some leadership credits, but I feel that I am making a lot of progress on them.