Working Hard, Working Out

I am a freelance graphic artist, and I have been working my tail off since August. Which does not leave much time for working my literal tail off. Now that I'm somewhat caught up with work I decided to ramp up the workout schedule. The fact that I felt like I gained 10 pounds on my hips and I have a belt test coming up on the 11th may have been motivating factors as well.

Yesterday I went for a quick 2.5 mile run on the trails. In the evening I did 1/2 hour of Tai Chi, one hour of Kyuki-Do, and an 1 1/2 hours of judo. This was my second judo class. My teacher has been trying to get me to do judo for a while, but to be honest I was too scared to try it. First of all, everybody would tell me about the nasty injuries "Yeah, I snapped my ACL, my adams apple is completely detached, I'm missing half my spleen." etc., etc. Which is ALWAYS followed with an enthusiastic "You should try it, it's great!". Obviously some brain damage involved there. Well, the teacher finally made me an offer I couldn't refuse. If I came to class he would give me a free uniform. A bargain! I love a bargain! Who cares about grevious bodily injury when there is a free uniform on the line? Well, as of the second class I must say it's not that bad. We must have done 70 throws last night and I am quite pleased to report I still have all of my own body parts (and they are all still attached to my body). Walking breakfalls still scare me though - something about jumping and being upside down in midair doesn't seem right to me.

Went for an hour walk on the trails this morning and I encountered two dogs. The first was a very friendly yellow lab who practically leaped into my arms while yelling "I love you! I don't know who you are, but I love you!" The second was a huge german shephard that was straining on his leash so hard he was choking himself with his own collar. As I passed I could hear the lady holding him muttering, "No, she doesn't want to play with you." The look on the dog's face said "That's ok, I don't want to play with her, I want to bite her face off." I must say that's the first and only time I've ever been a little scared of a dog out on the trails.