Broken Nose and New Respect

The international conference was better than I could have imagined. The quality of competition was absolutely amazing. The team from Jamaica just couldn't be touched when it came to the forms competition! But it doesn't really surprise me considering that most of the student there came from a Wu Shu background. I managed to grab third place in my heat, while a fellow student from my school brought home the silver.

I didn't fare so well in the Sen Shou, however. I lost my first bout via knockout at the end of the first round. The kid was just killing me with his jab and he put me on my ass with an uppercut/hook combination. I think it was the uppercut that busted my nose. The break really isn't that bad, but I was surprised at the amount of blood there was. Still, my performance (as it was) earned me a third place finish, plus some unexpected respect from our Grand Master. He said if front of an entire seminar that by getting into that ring, I proved to myself and to everyone else that I had the heart and the courage of a warrior. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was a little embarrassed, but what he said made me feel a whole lot better about myself.

The rest of the conference was a wild and wonderful daze. We got locked out of our room, had a dance off, and other stuff I'm too embarrassed to share with the rest of the world. I haven't drank so much and had so much fun since college. Apparently my merriment didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the participants, so I'm officialy known as "the drunk guy" to some of the younger sidis. It's not exactly the impression that I wanted to leave my first time out there, but it's not all bad, I guess. When I wasn't drinking, I was either in the pool, the hot tub, or taking in the various sights of Orlando. The Ripley's museum was really cool, but I got sea sick on the casino cruise.

But all and all, it was all great fun. I'm already looking forward to next year.