Dec 17 2009, Grade Status: ?, Belt ?, Grading Yesterday evening. So for those of you who were not at the grading last night, how did the grading go?! Weeeeeeellllll, as with all gradings you are as nervous as hell. I was too nervous for example to even drive to the dojo with my own daughter, she came with some friends of mine whose son also graded. On the way I seriously thought I was going to puke in the car.... The night before, my friend Joacim asked me, how I felt, and I said I am not sure what felt worse: Doing a big presentation in front of 75 people which I did about 3 weeks ago or the grading. Joacim said something very wise, he said of course the grading is worse! Why? Because at the presentation I am the one with all the answers! At the grading, only one person has the answer and that ain't me! (That would be Sensei Björn instead of course!) This is so true! So for those of you not living in Stockholm it was snowing like hell on Tuesday and I wanted to get the dojo on Wednesday in time, which leaves a lot of time to stand in the dojo worrying about EVERYTHING!!! The higher up you get the longer you have to wait this is of course pure torture! I am unfortunately it seems the only person in the whole of Stockholm that evening who was grading up from 7th to 6th Kyu, which meant I did my test with my comrades of the green belt grade. In a way a sort of poetic logic to it all if you think about it! WELL? How did it go. I have only one answer for you: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH WHAT A RELIEF!!!!! The joy is hard to explain, I've been on a roll pretty much all day today! So why go through all this stress and torture for a mere coloured belt? Well I did promise in my last blog to tell you why I train, but I think that I will leave that to the next time as the grading is just too much in my mind right now. One of the obvious ones is the the whole idea of wanting to achieve something better... A road towards a sort of perfection with your own body without any other tools other than yourself, and your head! Sounds easy? Well it ain't! Until next time, I would like to dedicate this blog to those who have helped me out this last season, the unsung heroes as it were: 1) Everyone I have fought against, it has been a pleasure. Thank you. 2) Sensei Valle and Daniel who seem to go the extra step to help me out whenever I ask. Thank you. 3) Sensei Björn for all the shouting and explanations for us dumb seagulls, so that you feel obliged to try and do your best! I look forward to all the shouting next season. 
GOD JUL och GOTT NYTT ÅR!!!!! Vi ses 2010 for more pain and joy!
 Richard stil a very stupid seagull in the big scheme of things------- But at least I seem to be improving in some ways! ;)))))))