Random things going on in Llamaville

Not much has been going on in Llamaville. Not much worth reporting anyway.


In September, LK1 and 2 participated in Run the Jailbreak, a "mud run" consisting of 14 obstacles and 3.8 miles. Obstacles included mud, water, tires, mud, hay bales, mud...did I mention mud?

We ran with "Perkins the Terminator" and "Mojo the Beast" and had a blast At the start of the race, it doesn't look that bad...But by the end, Mojo was the cleanest of us all.

 
Marching season has officially started for the Beast - and I've never seen him do so well in school and stay so organized...I think he's found his groove.  (Interesting segue - someone told him  yesterday that he reminded them of the Llama from The Emperor's New Groove.  Bwahaahaa!

For Poolah, if she's reading - by the end of marching season, we will have the band perform the Llama song.  It's so completely morphed now that it's epic.  :D

Blackbelt Attitude

Clark - you're awesome!  Keep on keeping on, buddy - you make my heart happy.  :)

Countdown - 15 days

The llamas have injured a hoof. The good news is that this is happened before. Randomly, a hoof will "roll," resulting in sudden sharp pain, maybe some swelling and brusiing, and then viola! Back to normal. This time, however, there was not really a Voila! moment.

After a week of limping around and proudly showing off the swelling and brusing, I decided to take the advice of several friends and visit the doctor. Who diagnosed a torn ligament. His words were "Oh yeah, it's torn. Flapping away in the wind." He did seem surprised that I was walking around as good as I was - hardly any limp, and could go up and down on toes with no problems. Side to side, however, was an issue, as after a week, I still couldn't rotate it completely. And the bruising is epic (his words, not mine, but I like them). Based on that, and the condition of the OTHER ankle, he seems to think I've done this before, and this was "just" a reinjury. So two weeks of wearing a brace and doing whatever I want, non-impact, and then 4-6 weeks of rehab. So no backflips, 720 aerials, butterflys, or kicking the bag for a while. (Rats. I almost had the 720 down. The backflip was right behind it!)

Which will be interesting, as at the two week mark, I'll be competing at Worlds. :D This is why doctors love me - I'm a guaranteed source of income, lol. Walking annuity, even.

However, I did come away from this experience with at least one lesson. If you have insurance - don't delay getting to the doctor. It might not have made a difference in recovery time this time around, but it could've. IF I had gotten into the proper brace just a week earlier, the swelling might have gone down sooner. Maybe. But if you're paying for it - use it. That's what it's there fore.

The best news out of the injury - the balance on my right leg has improved by leaps and bounds! Of course, that was already my good side...but that's okay, I'll take any gain, lol.

JUNE 1ST - THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS!

Worlds Week begins is approximately 22 days!

On the schedule this year - Protech training on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Top 10 Competition on Thursday. I can't wait!

More to follow.

What happens in Vegas...

What an amazing adventure LK1 and LK2 had over the weekend! It started out great - they met up with their friend Thumper and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Famous last words, let me tell ya.

It was announced that the incoming plane that would take the LKs to San Francisco was late arriving from Chicago - by about 30 minutes - and it was anticipated that the connection would be missed to get to Vegas. There were 11 people on the plane (13 really, the LKs were in disguise and had been checked as luggage), and all were sitting in the back. We were told that they would try and hold the plane for us and let us off early - but alas that did not happen. The plane took off 10 minutes before we arrived.

So - what to do now? One of the problems that was immediately realized was - the LKs were testing for 3rd degree on Friday morning - with a mandatory testers meeting at 8am - and they were stuck in San Francisco overnight. United booked them on the 8:30 flight, but after much whining, agreed to put them on standby for the 5:50am flight. But we were told that it was completely booked.

After spending at least 3 hours in baggage trying to get luggage off-loaded so it could go on the standby flight, Thumper and the LKs spent the night in the lobby - wide awake. Did you know you can stay in an airport for over 6 hours and not get questioned about why you're there? And if you bring in at least 15 taped boxes and leave them in the ticket line, you can walk away from them and nothing is said - probably because there was no hint of a security guard anywhere, who would you report the unattended boxes to? Simply amazing.

Finally - at 3:30, Thumper and LK1 and LK2 changed into their uniforms and managed to get tickets - and actually made the 5:50 flight. They landed in Vegas at 7:30, ran to baggage to get the luggage, and made it to the Convention Center with 10 minutes to spare before the meeting.

Testing went well - other than taking 3 attempts to break the boards.

Competition went as could be expected. Friday night they had dinner with some fabulous friends, and finally, after being awake for more than 36 hours, they managed to get some rest at the hotel. All told, by the time they got home Saturday night, they'd had 7 hours of sleep out of 67 on the road. Greatness.

The LKs came very close to competing in Creative Weapons on Saturday - but the corner judge said that they'd been modified and weren't protech. Turns out, the center judge later said had he seen them, he would've allowed them, just for fun (simply because the LKs joined the ring at the last minute and didn't have anything planned as far as, you know, a form or anything).



Stay tuned - the LKs are going to learn a new weapon as soon as they find out if they passed to 3rd. Watch out long-range bo, here they come!

The Llama kamas are going to....LAS VEGAS!!!

It's been awhile since there's been an update on this blog, so here goes.

Tonight, LK1 and LK2 are traveling to Las Vegas to attend the ATA Spring Nationals. While there, they will be testing for 3rd degree, competing in traditional weapons (Oh Sung Do), Creative forms (with Ozzy, thank you very much), and traditional forms and sparring. While there, they will be meeting up with lots of friends during competition and testing, and for dinner - let's get this party started!

Currently, they are waiting for the day to go by faster, because it seems to be crawling by. The bags are packed (except for their jeans and a t-shirt), the airline info is printed, lunch has been eaten...what else, what else?

See you in Vegas baby!

Theme of the Month - GOALS

The first Texas tournament is this weekend!

The theme of the month is currently GOALS - setting goals in our personal lives as well as our taekwondo lives. In thinking about what the focus should be this month, LK1 and LK2 have decided the following is what they will be striving for at the tournament:

1. Meet new people - this should be fairly easy...what tournament have you ever been to that you don't meet someone new?

2. Have fun - well, duh. That goes hand-in-hand with being at a tournement, I would think.

3. Improving scores in traditional forms - Worlds was a high, it's true. 7-6-7 hasn't happened in a long time. But if that could be done again, that would be nice.

4. DO NOT SMILE AT THE AUDIENCE (OR TALK TO THEM) DURING WEAPONS COMPETITION - this is a big one. Originally, the LKs were going to try and compete with DBME (um, yah, it's kind of funny picturing llama kamas competing with a weapon), but they're most likely going to fall back on Oh Sung Do. And when they do, the major goal of this tournament is to not smile at the audience (or talk to them) during the form. Hey, it could happen.

5. Win one round in sparring - one round at a time, that's all it takes.

Personal goals -

My baby turns 14 this weekend (sob). How did he go from 21 inches tall, and 8.5 pounds...to 5'9", 140 pounds, and a size 12 shoe? Sheesh. My goal is for him to have a fantabulous birthday - and I just KNOW he's going to love his birthday present! (it's still a secret - he might read this between now and then)