Monday blues

Monday night, and I'm feeling distracted, as I often do. I'm still catching up from being gone in London. And this week, I'm going to a conference in Chicago where I'm presenting a paper. I think I'll get everything done.

But TKD is always a good place to get away from those sorts of worries. Once I'm lined up with everyone else, stretching, kicking, doing basic movements, the worries fade into the background. I guess it's a good thing that tae kwon do isn't completely second nature to me. I like having to focus on it like this. It's calming, somehow, to focus completely on what you're doing right now, to be in the moment.

It's a good Monday night workout--besides the usual warm ups, we work on forms and combination kicking. I help out a couple of new people (new people!), one of whom is a mom. I hope that they feel welcome and keep coming to class.

After class, Brian challenges me to some combination kicking. We start, but have to quit early because of the water-skiers.

For the past few weeks, the local water-ski team has been using our dojang for who-knows-what. They arrive right as class is ending on Monday, which is kind of a pain. I always like to go through forms or practice sparring after class, and this makes it impossible.

Also, the group doesn't have a set of keys to lock up when they go. Ms. Pryor is going to stay or drive back when they're done, but she's tired. I volunteer to lock up and she gives me the keys.

It's not that I want to do it--in fact, it's not really the kind of thing I like to do: going out in a cold dark night to turn lights off and fiddle around with doors and locks. But my house is close to the dojang, and Ms. Pryor should be resting after her surgery. Besides, as a brown belt, I feel it's good for me to help out however I can.

I go home, and get the call that the skiers are done around 9. Locking up is easy, and some of the dads have stayed around. They shine flashlights on the locks and wait until the tricky front door is locked before they go.