6:30am Sunday Morning, June 28, 2009

The weekend is almost over and the llamas do not recall being so tired. As exciting as Thursday was...Friday prooved to be even more exciting. The day started out bright and early - with Master Rose's Top 10 Competition in XMA Form.



And he won! The llama kamas were so excited they could hardly stand still - this was the first time they'd watched someone they knew win World Champ. Later that evening, the llama kamas attended opening ceremonies - watching Grand Master break his boards was awesome. And they met some new friends...

Master Benson getting ready for XMA competition

The Llama Kamas meet Barbie


Mister Henderson ready to compete


Senior Master Kohl



The Llama Kamas get signed by Grand Master


But most exciting...the Llama kamas meet Mike Chat - the creater of ATA XMA. A former Blue Power Ranger, open circuit chamption, and all around a great sport.


The day ended on a high note, with this photo taken on the trip back to the hotel

June 25 - The First Day is Over

The Llamas woke up bright and early, and looked forward to getting everything underway. They were nervous, excited - but most of all, they couldn't wait to experience Worlds for the first time



The day started out early with testing - and the Llamas had a great view of many high ranks midterming and testing for rank - the demonstrations seen today were very inspiring - from forms, to sparring, to board breaks, the llama kamas got to see it all. They got a chance to meet Matt K from the ATAForums, and had lunch with him and others at Wasabi.



And then...the time came for Top 10. The Llama Kamas received some last minute instruction for an Oh Sung Do...and then they were up.



While they didn't place in the top three, they were very happy for the experience - and they made new friends ;) They were too scared to go up on stage to receive their pin, but they did watch.



And their instructor was very proud



Finally, they were able to call it a day, and get some very much needed rest.

June 24, 2009, 7:30pm - The Llama Kamas are on the lam(b)

Well, they finally started their journey - after a grueling three hours at the Llama Style Station, the llama kamas managed to get home and pack up and headed out to live out their destiny. They were slowed by some hideous traffic whilst driving thru Greenville, TX, but eventually got thru it and ate now more than halfway thru with their roadtrip. And even though the tree hours seems at first glance to be a setback - they are undeterred - this will be the Worlds to remember


The Llamas on the Road

History of the Llama Kamas

I have an iPhone, and it's notorious for correcting my spelling, because...being an Apple product...it thinks it's smarter than me. That very well may be true - because if I truly was a higher-functioning being, I would turn off the auto-spell check, and rely upon my own intelligence to get things typed out right, but that would be too easy.

I have a hobby - taekwondo. I practice Songahm Taekwondo, with a school affiliated with the American Taekwondo Association. If I'm not working, or sleeping, or reading...I'm thinking about TKD. Doesn't mean I'm actually participating - just thinking. Or, if you ask my husband - talking about it.

So one day, it occurred to me that I needed to be thinking about scheduling out my mid-terms as a 2nd degree, as I hadn't done any yet. Each midterm is designed to test something specific, and it can vary. For the kids, it's usually form and sparring at all, and a select weapon...er, training gear...at others. Because I randomly teach at the school, I want to become familiar with all the training gear available to my rank, and that would include double sshang joel bhang (DSJB, or nunchuks), double bhang mah ee (DBME, or sticks), and sshang nats (kamas). Since we midterm every three months, and I could be up for a rank test within a year, I needed to get on the ball about what I was going to test when. And I wanted to schedule a test at "the big show" - Worlds 2009, just for the experience of it, because testing in front of an international panel is a little...intimidating.

To ask about the scheduling, I texted my instructor - from the ever-so-smart iPhone, and here's how it went...

Me: am I midtermined in December? My plan is march for dsjb, worlds for form and breaks, September for dmbe and December for rank.

Answer: Works for me

Me: do I need an additional one for lamas? (and the expected dismal showing at worlds?)

Answer: how will you use lamas as weapons. They're kinda big

Me: It would be impressive though, right? Swinging lamas around

Answer: Dodge the spit

Me: If we used alcapas we could sell the sweaters after.

Me: im buying a keyboard fir this phone...after I get your hradphones .

And little did I know - this was only the beginning.

Quite a bit later - months, even, I went to instructor camp and certified. The following week or so, we had a belt ceremony after testing, and my instructor pulls out this...box...from a friend at our other location. After reading the note outloud to the school, I open the box:

"Dear Chelle,

Congratulations on achieving your certification. I understand that you are looking to learn a new weapon - I hope your instructor knows the form!"

And this is what I found:

So now they travel with me to tournaments, generally in my gear bag, although lately I've had to courage to stick them in my belt and use them to make Tiny Tigers laugh. I've been told I need to compete with them (but am so not going there, and yes, that makes me a sissy, but that's okay).

But now - because I'm silly this way - they're going to make the trip to Little Rock for the 2009 Worlds tournament.

Stay tuned!