Taking a Beating

The other night at karate, we had a good round of sparring, but I took a beating on two fronts. First, when I was sparring with P, he clocked me good in the nose. I thought for sure there would be blood, which would have gone a long way to making me feel like a real man, especially if I'd gotten blood all over my gi, but no such luck. That disqualified P from the match for an uncontrolled punch to the face. I sat down and everyone asked me if I was okay, and I said I was fine. Then sensei CH called me up to spar with him, and I said incredulously, "But I'm hurt!" No sympathy for the cowardly, so to add insult to injury, I had to spar the teacher.

For all it's worth, and it's worth a lot, when you spar with someone way above your level, it really elevates your abilities, and though I get smacked around, I do find it helps me a lot. And, I'm getting better at getting my death blows in, I just have to watch those feet of his. They get me every time.

Case in point, during an especially vigorous match, he kicked me in the crotch, essentially ending my time in Eden. Talk about being put to the test. At least it gave me some good stories to tell R and the kids when I got home. Dad's suffering is always good for entertainment value.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Asif Akbar for the pic.