Tuesday tales

It's early in the day still but there's always something to talk about.

• early bird gets the worm.. if the worm is even there to begin with
• I don't recognize anyone at J.R.O.T.C. anymore
• college application! wooo!
• circuit training
• belt test results
• I have really bad cramps and my knee hurts
• why do some of the sentences I write here have a white background even after I try to remove it?

                        and

• I'm really hungry

early bird gets the worm.. if the worm is even there to begin with

I usually never woke up early for school. Actually I never woke up early for school. I attended "Tardy Tank" a few times my freshman year. I hated waiting in line for that stupid slip of paper and so I decided to walk a little faster to school in the mornings. Normally I was out of the door by 7:05 or 7:10 to make it (barely) by 7:20. Today I was out of the house by 6:50 a.m.

"Wake the hell up, time to apply for college!"

 I value education more now because I know how it feels to want to be in school and can't. I know how it feels to be underprivileged. And I know I will cherish my college education more than some of my friends. Hence the preparation I have undertaken to make sure my transition into college runs smoothly. Anyways, I arrived earlier than my CAP adviser, (obviously) and so I hid out at the ROTC room. Which brings me to my next topic.

I don't recognize anyone at J.R.O.T.C. anymore

Obviously. People graduate (hopefully, or drop out) and time passes. It's been a full year since I've graduated and my last year of J.R.O.T.C., I wasn't involved with the freshman class as I was previous years. Actually, I wasn't involved at all. All I did was delegate orders to my assistant, making her do training schedules and OP Orders and sh*t like that while I studied for the major inspection we had that year. (RFI/ Regional Formal Inspection) It wasn't like when I visited last year that I was tackled by so many people and so many familiar faces that were happy to see me. Last Friday when I visited, I was hugged by literally 3 people. Everyone else looked at me like I was some freak looming at the back of the room. Which, I kind of was because as I scanned everyone, I realized, I knew NO ONE. 

college application! wooo!

I darted back to my adviser's room to find the light on in the room. I walked in and she smiled eagerly. "Let's get started!" I applied for my local community college. I just have to finish sending out some documents proving residency (I've only lived here for 17 years but sure) and I'm done. Meanwhile as I went to apply for FAFSA, being that my SSN is part of a new batch, the system would not accept it. Which would explain why when I tried applying online for a job, it would give me an error. Retarded. I had to call the place and they were so kind! I normally dislike solving matters over the phone but she was really helpful. Juny, I think her name was. She so cool. She explained to me that since my social was new, the system couldn't recognize it and that I could apply meanwhile through mail or just wait until October 23rd to apply online. With the advice of my counselor, I've decided to wait until then. She knows best. Thank you Juny for your kindness!

circuit training

I haven't trained for a week (since I've been sick as hell) so I decided to set up my own circuit training at home. I would do 5 minutes of treadmill, 5 minutes of trampoline and 10 minutes of weight training continuously, 3 times. Since its the first day of my . and I'm still recovering from destroyed elbows and a horrible sickness, I took it slow.

I worked out my neck with a resistance band and it was the COOLEST thing ever. People laugh when I say to work out your neck, but that really does help with your wrestling! Get your mind out of the gutter people, it's hard to push my face to the floor. (Mostly because I also don't set myself up in that position but strength plays a role too.)

"And 1 and 2 and 3 and 4.."

belt test results

Last week Thursday was the belt test. I've missed out on gym class because of sickness, I hurt my pinky toe and couldn't walk so I didn't attend class, and I had to take my driver's license test last week during the review. Therefore I knew NOTHING of what I was doing, which was not reflected in my performance because I made it up pretty well as I went along. My partner loves testing RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY COACH so he could OBVIOUSLY tell I was bs'ing everything. Our belt tests consist of three retarded portions:

1. conditioning. Males have to make the mile in less than 6 minutes and some seconds. Females are given leniency (mostly because I complain a lot and he doesn't want to hear that) and are given 8 minutes and 30 seconds. Fair? I think so. I run out of sight of my coach, walk half, and when the males are fulfilling their dumb honor code and come back from the other side of the block, I turn back and jog the rest. My coach, though I'd like to believe sometimes, isn't stupid and still fails me when I arrive under the allotted time. What an intelligent man.
2. drilling. We drill moves over and over while he writes down how we do. Some moves (and I love jiujitsu, I really do) are embarrassing. Like the kimura from side control where you have to put your butt in the person's face to finish the crank. One time I refused to do it like that, modifying the position so that I would squat instead of sitting on his face. From across the room, my coach screamed to put my butt in his face. I did. And my mom and sister were there watching. How nice. I know.
3. performance. I hate this part more than the conditioning.. or maybe they compete. We have to have a full blown MMA match, consisting of sparring, wrestling and groundwork against one of our teammates. I'm lucky if the fight gets to the ground (as grappling is my forte) but sometimes, it takes some work to get the fight to the ground. Maybe I've mentioned this before, maybe I haven't, but I will say it now: I HATE SPARRING SO DAMN MUCH. I hate getting punched in the face and in the stomach. I know I suck. So what do I do? To put distance between my opponent and his punches and I, I throw kicks. All types of kicks, heavy kicks, quick kicks, hard kicks, painful kicks, front, side, roundhouse, all types of kicks. As a matter a fact, I throw SO MANY KICKS, I fail this portion as well because I never throw punches. Every single time my coach adds a stripe to my belt, he says the same thing:

Coach: *as he adds the stripe to my belt, in his heavy Hispanic accent*"Your jiujitsu game is getting much better Jessica. But I need you to throw more punches."

Me: *outloud*"Yes coach." *thinking* "Yeah I got that already. I've heard it about 5 tests in a row. Can you change the advice? We both know I'm not gonna do it. Don't you have anything better to say?"

He changes it up every now and then though. Sometimes he'll say "use your hands more" or "you need to work your hands more" after telling me how my "jiujitsu game is getting much better." What a colorful variation, I know. 

But anyways, today I receive my last stripe on my orange belt before advancing to green. Finally. It has been some long months of stripes.

I have really bad cramps and my knee hurts

The first part is self explanatory. I feel as if my ovaries are going to pop. I've had knee problems for some time (about 4/5 months) and today's little jog on the treadmill has it acting up again. It's been hurting since last week. I haven't done salt baths or ice baths since before my last tournament. I should start again with that. This sickness has had me really bad and out of breath easily. Going up the stairs to go home gets me winded and in pain. Im such a crybaby, I know.

why do some of the sentences I write here have a white background even after I try to remove it?

It's so annoying. I'm still in the process of tweaking out this blog that it fully expresses me, not some pre-made template. When I link sites, the fonts become retarded. And when I try to remove the white background, there is no option for a transparent background! What the hell, you get me? So I am forced to have a white backdrop for the font area so it doesn't look retarded. I'm working on this and will get this fixed ASAP, because even if no one reads this blog, it bothers ME!!!

I'm really hungry

Actually, I'm starving. I've taken out a spoonful (or two or three..) of Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter (chunky) to tame my hunger while I find the lower back, ovaries and legs to transport myself to the kitchen. The food is already made (Mom knows how lazy I am and will starve out of laziness.) I guess I'll get my ass up and go eat something and take a shower after. I'll write again later.

"Eat me."

:)