Last night was the final part of my Black Belt test. I fumbled a few things, but after it was over my instructor said I gave an excellent performance and all the other highly ranked students who were judging me said pretty much the same. I suppose I can’t complain.

Thursday is our graduation ceremony, which is about ten minutes of ceremony and half an hour of snacks afterward, followed by dinner at a nearby Chinese buffet. You can consider yourself invited to come see me get my actual physical belt, get some free cookies, and then join us for dinner.

I came through my sparring test pretty well. I lost both contacts, got a black eye, a jammed left middle finger, banged right forearm, sore ribs high on the right side, a bruise the size of a silver dollar above my right pectoral, and some banged up lips. Nothing serious. I’m told I busted up the other guys pretty well, but by that point my contacts were gone and I couldn’t really see what I’d done to them.

See for yourself, though:

Now I just have to demonstrate everything I’ve learned over the last three and a half (give or take) years in front of my instructor, his instructor, and half a dozen other instructors and black belts of our style.

Tonight is the first part of my black belt test: sparring. I’ll be fighting five rounds with short breaks (thirty seconds or so) between each round. The first is one guy against me, then two against me, then three against me, then two again, and finally one-on-one again. I’ve seen these tests a few times and there’s a pretty wide range in how well it can go. For the three rounds against multiple opponents, the most important thing is to stay cool and in control of the action. Force opponents to get in the way of each other, trip over each other. Don’t allow yourself to get flanked. Don’t turn your back on an opponent while he can still hurt you. Don’t turtle, cower, or run, unless you’re running toward the fight.

Those are just details, though. All you really have to do is show that you’re a fighter.

I like audiobooks. I listen to them when I’m driving or cleaning the garage or pretty much anything that doesn’t require actual concentration. Some I get from places like LibriVox. I’ve found some really good ones at my local library. Until recently, though, it was something of a pain to listen to them on my iPod. I’ve figured out the perfect method, though. As usual, smart playlists are the answer.

I create a smart playlist with rules like this:
Artist is John Hodgeman
Album is The Areas of My Expertise
Play Count is less than 1

That pulls all the tracks in the audiobook for the playlist. I make sure they’re sorted in the right order, then right click the playlist and hit Copy To Play Order to be sure. Then I select all, right click, and hit Get Info. At the bottom, I change Remember Position to Yes so that if I stop listening in the middle of a track, when I start up again it’ll be right where I left off. I also change Skip When Shuffling to Yes so that if I have the iPod in shuffle mode, it won’t play any of the audiobook tracks. I don’t have to worry about hitting the chapters out of order or anything.

The beautiful part of this is the Play Count rule. Whenever I finish listening to a track, it drops off the playlist. Whenever I want to pick this audiobook back up again, I just scroll to this smart playlist and hit play.

I can’t draw. I really wish I could, but I can’t. I’ve read stuff that says anybody can acquire the skill if they put some work into it. Not that anybody can be a fantastic artist, but that if you put your back into it you can learn to draw at least well enough to convey your intent. Maybe that’s true, I dunno. I’ve never had much success when I’ve tried, and I just haven’t been able to stick with it.

If I could draw, this is what I’d use that skill for: Martial Arts Moleskine

Last week I skipped sparring so that I wouldn’t risk getting myself stupidly hurt. Usually I’m fine with the idea of getting stupidly hurt, but this was a special case. I didn’t want to risk having to postpone my test again.

I was supposed to test in November, but in early October I started developing a knee injury that kept me out of class until December. Then I had to spend some time getting back into shape and learning all the stuff that I should have learned during those classes I missed. I felt ready by the end of December, so the first chance I had, I tested.

How did it go?

Pretty well.

Today was my last physical therapy session. My trainer told me that I can go back to kung fu whenever I like. I have a followup appointment with my doctor on Monday, and I’ll probably attend class on Tuesday. I’ll still need to warm up my knees a little extra beforehand, and I’ll have to avoid low stances and stuff like tiger squats for a while, but at least I’ll get to practice.

My physical therapy has hit a different stride. I’m off the ankle weights and “extend and hold for five seconds, thirty repetitions” stuff. I’m on the machines. Leg press, leg extension, thigh adductor/abductor, and just today I started on the elliptical. Five minutes at high speed was enough to leave me drenched in sweat, but after icing my knee I was walking better than I have in months. Putting my knees through a solid workout never fails to leave them feeling great. The only downside to this is that I’m only doing physical therapy sessions for my left knee because it was the only one that was in really super terrible shape. My right knee also needs work, but I’m having to do that on my own, and now that I’m beyond the stuff I can do at home I need to start hitting the gym to rehab that side. Right now my left knee is actually better off than my right.

I had my first physical therapy session today and it went pretty well. I went in on Monday for an evaluation and my trainer gave me some stretches and exercises to do at home, then scheduled me for three sessions a week. I’m to continue taking the anti-inflammatories, continue icing the knee two or three times a day, do my exercises, and avoid excess stress. There’s no way to tell exactly how long I’ll be unable to train. The general rule of thumb is “until the pain is gone,” which is going to be different for each case. I’m still betting on a couple months, which would put me back in training in mid-December.

The good news is that I feel like I’m responding well to the therapy. I did all my exercises with a 2lb ankle weight today, along with a bunch of these, plus ten minutes on the exercise bike. I always walk a lot better after working the knee, too, so I’ve got an immediate incentive as well as the long-range goal of getting back to kung fu.

While I’ve been unable to actively train, I’ve been trying to keep my hand in. I still go to class, but as a spectator. I take notes on stuff that stands out. I talk to the other students about the stuff they’re working on and if I can help them with their training without stressing my knee, I do. Sifu says that when I’m able to return to class, he’ll allow me to make up the November test so that I won’t lose momentum toward my black belt. He’s a good guy like that.

I’ve been spending some of my downtime with Yang Jwing-Ming’s Applications of Shaolin Chin Na, dissecting the techniques (of which there are many) and studying how they are done. I’m working on categorizing and cross-referencing in order to come up with a system for learning these techniques. I like the chin na that we learn in Lung Shou Pai, but I’m impatient and I want more. If I could, I’d do an extra hour class twice a week just on chin na.

My left knee has been giving me trouble, as I’ve mentioned before. I went for an MRI last Friday and just got the analysis back. Apparently I have a condition called chrondomalacia. Go ahead, google it. I’ll wait here.

Yeah, it all seems to fit. All the symptoms, the causes, all that stuff matches up with my experience. There’s not much mention of significant swelling, though the swelling in my knee can only be described as significant, but it certainly sounds like an accurate diagnosis to me.

I’m being referred to a physical therapist and they’re giving me Celebrex, a prescription anti-inflammatory. All the stuff I’m finding indicates that with PT, drugs, and rest, there’s a good chance that I can fix this problem without need for surgery or lasting complications. Here’s hoping.

The bad news is that I’m probably going to have to take some time off for training. I’m betting on several weeks to allow it the knee to recover, and several more for physical therapy to balance out the muscles to prevent this from coming up again. Call it two or three months.

That means that I’m almost certainly going to be unable to test next month, and that will also push back my black belt test. Best case scenario, if I recover quickly, if I’m allowed to test on the current material after I get back, if I can get into good enough shape quickly, if all the planets align in my favor, I may be able to test for my black belt in July. That would be a pretty nice birthday present.