So, usually D.C. is not a particularly snowy place—I think it snowed about 4 inches last year all told, mainly spread out into light dustings manageable even for this most unprepared-for-snow city. This year, however, is apparently turning out to be one of those fluke-y, heavy-snow years, characterized by storms which will hereafter be referred to by everyone inside the Beltway with Important Capitalized Phrases like Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, The Historic Storm of Early December, The Historic Storm of Early February, etc etc. I missed the first major storm (that would be the Snowpocalypse one) due to being home in break (in snowy New Hampshire of course, the better to mock the D.C. snow-spurred panic), but the second major storm of the winter (we’re going with Snowmageddon for this one) hit last weekend, dumping 1.5 – 2 feet of snow, and in some places upwards of 36″, on the D.C. metro area. That was Friday and Saturday; this is Monday. In case any of you hearty Northeastern people are thinking that even D.C. would be largely functional again by now, there is still no above-ground Metro Rail service (read: no trains for me), they just got some of the bus lines up and running this morning (and none to my area, so no buses for me either), the roads mostly seem to be ranging from icy and bad to completely impassable, and almost everything is still closed, because no one can get to anywhere if they don’t care to walk through ankle-deep snow to get there. Having grown up in a place where getting 2 feet of snow at a time is essentially a routine winter event, this is probably the first time that I have ever been legitimately snowed in anywhere—considering how much more relaxed my schedule is currently (what with school and work being closed), I can’t say I mind, as long as things get back on line within the next couple of days. Anywho, pictures below for your viewing and/or mocking pleasure; hope Northeast people are staying warm and D.C. people are staying safe!

I would just like to state for the (internet) record that I really dislike the moving-to-school process. Yes, I like being home for breaks, and yes, I like being in DC for school, and I am aware that logically, moving is the necessary link between Thing 1 and Thing 2. Unfortunately, having super-awesome logic skillz doesn’t appear to do one much good in a process which involves fitting all of ones worldly possessions in a Subaru Forester and driving 12 hours with it to DC, to be welcomed by a stack of school paperwork 4 feet tall. Particularly considering that all I ever really feel like doing when I first get back to school is turning right around and going home, where I could retract all of the goodbyes I just said and revel in weather that is not in the upper 90s every day and a schedule that involves enough white space to make even the most minimalist of designers happy. The bulk of my life in both places actually makes me quite happy, but the transitory phases suck.

On a more upbeat note, I get to see my Aunt Holly this weekend on the way down to DC, my classes look interesting, I managed to rent every single one of my books this semester (13 books with no TU bookstore 600% markups, I’m slightly less broke!), I’m starting Aikido again shortly, I’m living in a house this year, I should be doing peer tutoring at school, I may do an internship, and I’m taking 17 credits (5 classes, 2 labs), which may turn out to be a good medium between 15-credit semi-boredom and 18-credit semi-insanity. And I’m back in December as usual. I miss all of my NH people already, so I’m holding on to that last one. And so we go!

Almost six years ago, I started taking karate. I was 12, and it was another extracurricular in a long line of sports and arts and myriad hobbies. Three years ago, I became an assistant teacher. I was 15 and a green belt, and karate was fast becoming my main avocation. Last night, I received my first degree black belt. I am eighteen, and karate long ago transcended its avocation status to become the best expression of who I am.

My training long ago ceased being something that I could separate from myself as a person; karate has shaped and altered me, made me strong as it taught me humility, given me my second family, and become integral to my existence along the way. I don’t think about training as if it’s an option or an activity, I train like I breathe—all the time, and no matter what. And ultimately, I think that that attitude is a big part of why I’m a black belt now; not because I’m magically gifted, but because for the past several years I’ve trained like it was a necessary part of my life. I’ve trained (carefully) while injured, sick, tired, bruised, stressed. I’ve trained in 90-degree heat and on cold dojo floors in the middle of winter. I trained so much that I began to grasp something of this art that I really love (although I’m eons away from claiming any sort of mastery), so when the black belt test came around last March, I felt ready for it.

The other major factors in this are, of course, my amazing Senseis, who started training, guiding, and caring for me on day one and haven’t stopped, despite my defection to DC for much of the last year. These are the people who made me love it; these are the people who have done everything possible to make me my best possible self, in and out of the dojo. I try to be a good person for the sake of it, but also because I am trying to live up to my Senseis’ belief in me. Also, since I may as well make a list of people I’m grateful for, my parents have done everything they could to enable my being a martial artist; that’s six years of driving to the dojo a billion times a week, writing a lot of checks, and supporting my strange obsession with this thing that has me coming home black and blue all of the time, and I’m very thankful for that support.

I am now a dual-state-living college student, and my life has gotten slightly more complicated than it was when I was 12. But I am a black belt wherever I go, whether I’m wearing it or not, and I am proud of the work that I put into that, and awed by the work that others put in making sure I got there.

Oh and, of course, pictures on the Flickr.

5 years of karate training, help from the parents, huge amounts of support and training (and basically everything else) from my incredible senseis, a plane and a bus to get up to NH, a 2-hour drive down to Atkinson, Mass, and a little over an hour of testing, and I’ve just passed my black belt test. Huge thank-yous to everyone involved! And now on to registration and my final 5 weeks of school, before going on to my summer break and black belt graduation

Do excuse the lack of blog posting lately; as most people are aware, I’m taking 18 credits this semester, which is currently translating into piles and piles of reading every weekend, supplemented by other assignments and lots and lots of test prep in various forms (like right now; I’m recovering from a 75-minute in-class-essay exam for my history class while prepping for the 5 other tests that I have coming up next week in all of my other classes). And I’m in Aikido 3 times a week (my rolls are getting better!), still keeping up my karate practice, and trying to leave myself at least a day or so of chill time every weekend if possible, so my schedule can get a bit jam-packed.

In news not in the “why oh why did I take on this workload” category, my birthday is fast approaching, as is Spring Break, so yay! I’m going out Friday and Saturday for the birthday with friends, so pictures should certainly by forthcoming, and I will be home (more accurately, I’ll probably be at home a little and at the dojo as much as they’re willing to have me, sorry Mom!) for the first week of March. It will definitely be nice to have a chance to unwind for more than 2 days, and to get to see as many of my NY and NH people as possible, before I come back to school and do my best to power through the post-midterm crunch season that will be the rest of March and April. And back to the semi-caffeine-fueled study sessions

Inauguration craziness has definitely hit DC, and we’re still a couple of days away from the actual event … I just spent all day out on the National Mall at the We Are One Inauguration concert, so I am dead tired, so suffice it to say that this is a truly awesome time to be in DC. Oh, and there are pictures up on my flickr A sample of the photos is below, and a complete overview blog post is forthcoming, sometime after it’s all over and things have settled down.

It hasn’t quite set in yet that I’m really finished, but officially I am done with my first college semester. I’m sure I’ll have some thoughts on it as a whole, given some time to reflect, but right now it works down to:

I’m glad I did well academically

I made some great friends

I’m not sure yet how living on my own in DC has affected who I am, but I’m sure it has in some way

I strongly dislike school food

I am so, so, so happy to be home.

Just another brief entry, as I’ve not got anything new and earth-shattering to report. Aikido is still going well; my rolls are starting to look a bit more roll-y and a bit less like a collection of sharp edges hitting the floor, so that’s good. I’ve got a semi-ridiculous amount of homework to contend with at the moment (we’re talking 3 papers plus reading and problem sets due next week alone), but I’m managing it all OK.

I’ve got classes all next week, and am then heading up to New York on Thursday for the weekend (yes, my weekends start on Thursday—I love my schedule!). I’m looking forward to the elections, even though I (obnoxiously) can’t vote; I’ll definitely be needing some coffee before my Wednesday morning 9 AM class, because I’m sure to be up pretty late on that Tuesday. And 3 weeks after that, it’s Thanksgiving break in NY, immediately followed by winter break in NH (I’ll be home starting December 4th, for anyone that didn’t know), which, considering how much work my professors seem intent on piling on us in the last month of the semester, I am definitely looking forward to. Hope everyone’s doing well!

Just a quick update to say that I:

Survived the GJV weekend, which was intense and physically uncomfortable, but a valuable experience.

Am doing fine in my classes, just trying to keep up with the crush of midterms-season homework, and am looking forward to having this Monday off (yay for the historically inconsequential psuedo-holiday that is Columbus Day).

Get to see Daddy when he comes down this weekend, so yay!

And am doing pretty well with Aikido, it’s a lot of new stuff to learn (like, for instance, how to do a forward roll without landing on my head, my neck, my elbows, my knees, and every other part of my body simultaneously), but I’m enjoying the process. Also, I got my weight back up, for those that were privy to that particular fun episode and might have been worried. But that doesn’t mean you can’t all send me food

I’ve officially done my first full week of Aikido: class Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. It’s been good, I’ve met some really nice people, and I’m starting to get a feel for the rhythyms of the dojo, although I’ve still got a long way to go before it begins to feel really comfortable for me. But I’m worked out and happily sore (the “ow” would be referring to my knees, my back, my shoulders … no, that’s not a bad thing, that’s a good workout), so it’s good.

As a reminder, I will be gone this weekend, Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. This means no cell phone availability (shock! horror!), so if you call or text, expect a response no earlier than Monday afternoon. And next weekend, assuming everything works out, Daddy should be coming down to visit me, so yay! Then it’s less than two months to Thanksgiving break, which I am looking forward to; it’s not like I don’t like school, not at all, but I can tell that I’ll be somewhat burned out by November, and will welcome the time off. In other news, this week and next week is MIDTERMS oh boy! Most of my teachers aren’t doing actual midterms, but many of them are taking the opportunity apparently presented by there being midterms to start handing out assignments like they’re afraid we’ll float away if we’re not weighed down by 5-foot stacks of paper. Thus, having just finished 2 papers, about 30 pages of reading, and 2 assignments for my geography class, I still have homework left. I’m just determined not to get bogged down and burned out on this schedule; if I can manage to keep my head up, I think I can maintain the really good grades I’ve been managing to garner so far. That’s all for now, wish me luck as I go off to brave the wilds of West VA