I'm sitting here because I have a dermotologist appointment. It was in one hour, but now it's not until 4PM. This is not unusual - he tend to run very late and I've taken to calling his office to find out how badly he's running. This was their advice.

Jonathan is still home because he's enthralled by "The Red Violin." I don't blame him.

Last night, I went to my second pakua class since beginning again. And it was interesting. There is another blue belt (she's *fifteen) - the others are all lower level, pre-Instructor belts. And Master Ilona (note to prezzey - I asked. She's Russian Jewish, but thinks that her parents chose to give her a Greek or Hungarian name. She's not sure. She's *from* Russia - I can say that. Middling accent.) was very aware of this. The lower belts were all taught a technique. Shana and I were told to "half-fight". That is, we were told to punch and block - spar without using our legs. No techniques, just sparring. Next to us, we could see the other students doing a formal technique. It was odd. She was clearly teaching two different classes. She was about to teach the two of us a technique when the class ended late.

On the other hand - even though it's been months, I found myself doing the kicks in the manner I learned in the Improvement classes. I could feel the power, even. So I didn't forget.

I was, however, creaking around the office. Standing was a minor production. I'm better now, but as we did 32 crunches - 8 standard, 8 with crossed ankles off the ground, 8 with legs pointing straight up and 8 with our legs, still up, opening and closing - I expect things will be interesting tomorrow.

On another note - since these classes take place when they do, I've decided to make more use of my crockpot and ordered a couple of cookbooks.