Glow

I am definitely basking in post-tournament (and post new trimmed-out-by-Mom Shureido) glow. We held our first tournament ever, invitation only, with some great people.

I was extremely pleased at the show of discipline and etiquette by all of the 60+ participants, with very limited exception (and that was as much an issue with the center ref in that instance as anything).

I was also really happy at how judging went—there weren't any cases of rampant bias, though we did have some different ways of counting points that we had to confer on a couple times. I was pretty worried that I wasn't going to be able to see things happening in the rings, as it seems to be the biggest problem I have while centering, but I had a great crew of people in all of the fights I refereed, and we generally agreed on everything. There was one case of disagreement that came up after the fact, and my rationale was actually accepted.

My own performance was fairly lackluster, I think. There were three 3d dans in the tournament, and I came in 3d place in forms. Naturally our instructor graded us all the same, but the other two judges felt more strongly about the other two candidates—and it was well deserved on both counts.

In fighting I expected to perform a little better, aligned as I was with the lighter weight class. Of the four in our division, I came in third. I got owned in the first fight by the guy who took first. I was a little po'ed about that, and I did much better in the second fight. (One of the other masters came over to ask me when I was testing for my master's belt and introduced me to two new fans. To which I said, "Please." Still, high praise, and this from a guy who fought with the likes of Chuck Norris.)

Despite my meh performance, I was really really glad at how well the day turned out. We had a great group of people put it together and add some touches that gave it all some class. A couple folks put together some Excel wizardry that made scorekeeping infinitely easier, and we had food for the judges and the other help that was delicious (and quite necessary, as my motor was running on fumes by the end of the day).

Afterward we went to our usual Chinese place, and the food actually wasn't as terrible as I expected it to be. We hit it at just the right time (for those in the area, it's around 7PM on a Saturday).

After gorging and chatting and splitting a couple bottles of Pinot grigio, we all headed home. I had a hard time falling asleep despite being pretty tired. I'm pretty excited for next year.


There were other things that happened during the week. I'm not sure what they were.