That "Near the End of the Summer Holidays" Feeling

After a Krav Maga grading I feel knackered but exhilarated. After all, I did it. I made the grade. On P2, 3 and 4 I came away with my body shouting abuse at me for the misery I'd put it through, but I felt A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

I might even miss the next lesson at the club and unwind with a shedload of alcohol (Guinness makes a good subsitute Night Nurse) and a gallon of ice cream. The DVD relevant to that grade gets put back in the sleeve and put on the shelf. The patch goes in the frame with its predecessors, at the corners of the certificate for my current level**

It's a wonderful feeling of having achieved something special and risen in the ranks.

It's in fact, very similar to that feeling I got when the school broke up for the summer holidays.

Six whole weeks of F.R.E.E.D.O.M to do what I wanted***, run around, stay up late and generally have F.U.N. The summer felt like it would never end. That first week would be a joyous adventure, knowing I had 5 more weeks after it. Weeks 2 through to 5 would be spectacular. On hols with the parents and my brother, back to play with my mates and ride my bike around town to my heart's content. No pressure.

Problem was, by week 5, once we got past Sunday I was feeling down and getting tense. After all, once that precious Monday was used up, there would not be another to replace it the week after. The same with every day up until that horrible Monday when I'd have to don the dreaded school uniform again and traipse up the driveway of Shitbag Comprehensive (otherwise known as Kenilworth School) to endure another term of bullying, boredom and dark sarcasm in the classroom.

But I digress...

In 4 weeks we have the Pre Assessment Workshop for the upcoming October gradings. That "Beginning of the School Holidays" feeling is now becoming a "I'll have to go back to Maths and Chemistry" feeling.

Down to work; as many sessions a week as possible; new level's DVD on mail order; book the venue...and spend my time getting nervous.

When I took P4 I was stressed almost to ruination the entire week before the grading. Fact it was hosted by the Master level 1 Zeev Cohen didn't help my nerves overly much.

So instead of 6 weeks of riding my bike, staying up late and hanging out with my friends, I now have 6 monthly gaps of trying to remain focussed instead of just riding on the euphoria of having passed a Practitioner level yet again.

Defending Against Impending Knife Threat?

Can do.

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** Apart from P4 which I have passed but haven't passed as I have to redo stick defences before I get the patch or certificate, even though the stamp is in my passport. God bless "conditional passes".

***  Mother and fathers' approval pending.