Gulley Washers and Sticks

Last night was Bo night at karate. No, not beau but bo as in a long stick. I prefer to call them sticks as most people don't know what a bo is. Or else they are completely getting the wrong picture.

I love stick night. Nothing like whapping people with a 6foot long solid wooden pole! Really though, it is very disciplined with strict moves and katas that you follow. But they are done with a partner so it makes it more "real."

It seems to come naturally for me. I attribute it to playing around with a baton for years and years and having a mom who was a twirler and taught me a couple nifty things as I was growing up. I still have HER baton. Kinda like having HER toes shoes (and you KNOW that whole story and if you don't, look back a few pages).

But anyway, having only gotten to use the bo on four separate nights, I am still in the beginner section. The green, brown and black belts worked as their own group off to the left.

Our group was small (4 students plus instructor). I was paired with a young high school boy who thinks he is the karate kid and superman all rolled into one. (He is pretty harmless though. You just have to get past his attitude and comments. Lisa, you are probably shaking your head right about now.)

So my partner and I were more advanced than the two that had never done sticks before. He goofed off quite a bit and kept me distracted from the achingly slow pace.

Off on my left, it sounded like the advanced group was really getting it. I don't mean understanding. I mean like really whaling on each other. I heard a great, resounding steady sound of whacking.

A couple minutes later I saw the maintenance man show up with a trash can on wheels.

I figured out that I hadn't been missing out on some major whomping going on in the advanced class. The roof of the gym was leaking like someone had just invented a skylight and forgot to put in the glass.

There was a major storm moving over and the steady splat sound I heard had been the water falling 25 feet from the ceiling to the gym floor.

I didn't feel so bad like I had missed out then :)