Breaky breaky

After my first testing Oct. 2008

Marker

Please look at my eye. For those who do not believe me that my eye is a lazy bastard, here is the proof. While my leg kicks ass, my eye is not very competent.

Hello friends. I broke my first board today. I am quite proud of myself. Although my instructor gave me a hard time for not hitting it in the middle, I think it just shows how off-center I really am. I am now an Orange Belt and testing for Orange Senior next week. Perhaps afterwards I will take another intimidating picture. Two thumbs up.

I got my first bruise from sparring a couple weeks ago. And I would have documented it but by the time I thought of it, the black and blue had faded.

A small addition slightly political and actually opinionated. After all, the title of my blog is À Mon Avis, which means "in my opinion" in French.

Before every class we recite the tenants of Tae Kwon Do:

COURTESY, INTEGRITY, PERSEVERANCE, SELF-CONTROL, INDOMITABLE SPIRIT. Then we quote the Tae Kwon Do Student Oath:

I shall observe the tenants of Taekwondo.

I shall respect my instructors and senior students.

I shall never misuse Taekwondo.

I shall be a champion of freedom and justice.

I shall build a more peaceful world.

SIR.

I, as a faithful Taekwondo student, observe the entirety of this five-part oath, even the last one. I strive to build a more peaceful world through my No. 3 leg sidekicks, No. 3 leg front kicks, No. 2 leg spin sidekicks, spear hands, ridge hands, and No. 1 leg double rounds. Ergo, I anticipate to be up for next year's Nobel Peace Prize. I have been doing this longer than a few weeks. I'll try to be more symbolic, to represent something more than myself, to be eloquent and use my hand gestures sparingly. I will even try to bring the Olympics to Costa Mesa, CA for 2018.

YES I CAN.