Hey! I'm at ORU with BonnieJean. The internet is down at home (let's fire familynet!) and she has to take a virtual tour of some artist's work. She also had to pick up her administrative abscense (sp?) to give to her PE teacher on Monday morning. After we're done here we're going to go see The Goblet of Fire. I've already seen it once and just leapt at the chance to see it again. After the second viewing I'll write up my thoughts on it (if the internet is back up at home).

Ok, real quuickly! Overview of Missions Tournament.

Mr. Murry got third in kata, Mr. Sauter second, and Crista Bailey 1st. They had blackbelt kata at the same time that they had underbelt weapons (where Ethan was doing chento with his knifes) so I didn't really get to see the katas so I don't have an opinion on how everyone did. But from what other folks said and what I say I understand everyone did really well. I would hate to judge those blackbelt divisions. I don't think I would have been able to pick between Mr. Murry, Mr. Sauter, and Christa. They all did a super kata.

Poor Ethan was really nervious doing weapons kata but he got second (out of 3 competitors). His hands were shaking so when he did the low juji blocks you could hear the knives clink together a little. When he had to do the tie for 2nd I thought he was about to throw up although he says his stomach felt fine. I thinke he'll do better next time now that he's gotten the nerves out.

Isaac won first in kata, Joshua won first in kata, and Naomi got 3rd in kata. I got 4th and I'm super mad at myself for not getting 1st. I'm not sure what I need to work on. I thought I did pretty good thopugh not as good as I had been doing it in the dojo. Ethan and I both got third in fighting. It was a lot of fun. Jennifer (from Eastwood) was absolutely spot on that day! She had a beautiful pasa dia and beat me and Christa in fighting. The Shaw girls were also brilliant. And Mr. Burnett's people all got 1st adn 2nd in fighting. Almost none of them were in the same division as Battlecreek people so I hollered myself hoarse for them. I was so tickled for them! Michaela Seimens won first in fighting and kata so she got the outstanding competitor trophy for girls. Alex Valverdes (George's son) got the outstanding boy competitor.

Jay's ankle is still funky so he didn't compete. Josiah had been sick all week so he didn't compete and then just about went nuts watching everyone fight. Christina Garza was there but didn't compete. Mr. Bolen was there but didn't compete (I'm not sure what his excuse was) Jason was home for Thanksgiving break and did weapons, kata, and fighting and didn't do very well at all at any of them. In fact the fighting was kinda embarassing. I don't know how much time he's had to practice at school. Mr. Murry has been doing a class after school on Tuesday at a Broken Arrow jr. high and a couple of yellow belts from there came. I can't remember what all they won but they both did real well.

Surprise of the day: Mark Miller did kata and fighting. He did a go-jo-ru kata (on of the breathing ones that Jason plays around with a lot) that no one knew what to make of so he didn't score well but Mr. Murry was impressed with it. I was amazed that he did fighting. He's so broken down already it wouldn't take much more to disable him completelly; it's an awful lot of risk.

The blackbelt men fighting was out of this world. Mr. Murry wiped the ground with Mr. Rountree as an opening and then Drew Dueberry wiped the ground with Jason. Then everyone gained a new respect for Mr. Miller when Mr. Murry barely beat him. It was cool to watch the crowd. He was an absolute unknown (except perhaps to Mr. Wittaker and Mr. Holzbauer) who had done a weird kata, walking around with a cane. And then they saw the speed of those hands and were all really impressed. Then Mr. Sauter beat two people that I can't remember the names of but he did really well. So that left the championship fight to Mr. Murry and Mr. Sauter. It was an amazing fight but Mr. Murry did win by a good margin. You know it's a teacher/student fight when Mr. Murry makes Mr. Sauter's lip bleed and it's Mr. Murry that looks upset and says 'Dang it!' ;) My favorite point was when Mr. Murry kept picking up his leg into a chamber and then on the third time snapped it to a sidekick to the jaw. Mr. Sauter never even saw it coming.

Mr. Henderson did the most amazing bow kata I have ever seen him do. He got a 9, 9.5 and a 10. He looked like a kid that has just gotten Christmas twice. But he only got second. Dillian Ramey did an amazing bow kata and got a 9.5, 9.5 and a 10. I got a picture of the two of them together. It's terribly rare to see a 10 at all. But to see 2 tens in the same division is unheard of.

So overall I was thrilled and honored just to get watch this tournament.

ABKA ROCKS!