Karate Kid.

So I went to my routine taekwondo class today and was presented a letter that read a little something like this:

September 21, 2009

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have qualified to compete in your NATIONAL Championship division at the Choong Sil Taekwondo Nationals on November 14, 2009. etc etc etc etc etc.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

Signed by: National Administrator

Here is the sequence of events that lead to my qualifying for nationals apparently:

1. I am a black belt recommended. (Testing for my black belt end of October).

2. I am a female between the age of 18-34.

3. I competed in Spar Wars & won two 3rd place metals which gave me 1 of the 3 tickets into nationals *gasp*!

I swear I am humble about this.

Quick excerpt about Spar Wars.

Spar Wars is an all-sparring competition. I decided to go about 1 hr before the competition because this would be my first year to compete in the black belt division. SCARY. And it truly was scary. Can I please tell you that the 2 "chicks" who got the 1st and 2nd place medal either a) owned a taekwondo school in florida-not kidding or b) was enrolled in her first class when she first started walking. Both were second degree black belts which automatically means they have at least 2 years of experience on me. But to be quite honest, I didn't get completely slaughtered, both rounds were 4 points against 2 (I got 2 points!). So I was proud at the end of the day. I will admit there were a few tearful moments when I got in the car with Landon right after the competition. These tears were probably a combination of disappointment that I'm not the best (shocking I know), the stress & intimidation of the day, and relief that I did not leave with a spinal cord injury.

So what the blog comes down to is....

SHOULD I COMPETE IN NATIONALS?

There is probably only an actual 1% chance I will attend and that figure of 1%, is also representative of my survival rate should I go. I will definitely save the congrats letter to show my grandkids that their grammy was really something.

Here is a little video footage of my sparring (very brief and uneventful), but it will humor you:

Avett Brothers.

There was the 1:10 ratio. One: "ok, I'll go if I have to" to Ten: "I seriously don't want to go, have a good day." The obvi would be that I made it clear that I didn't want to go, however my husband opted to buy me a ticket to the Avett Brothers concert at Minglewood Hall nonetheless. Hate to admit, but I'm glad I went. Not only that, but part of me wants Landon to drop the whole optometry joke, grow his hair out nice & sexy again (refer to pic below), wear a vest and/or cowboy hat, lose about 30-50 lbs, and start a band called Mildew Carpet.

There really is nothing better than similar DNA singing in melodic harmony. Here is a little Sunday-morning-church-sermon-play-on-words to describe the Avett Brothers.

A: adorable

V: volcanic

E: eloquant

T: teeny

T: tiny

I really wouldn't pair their music with anyone on my blogroll, but in the event you are interested in new music in the rapidly growing genre of indie, folk-punk, or grungegrass (source Wikipedia), this is the band for you.

Yes, I was the teeny bopper who presumptiously purchased a t-shirt as soon as I walked in the door prior to even having heard their music because I thought it was cool.

And here they are folks. The bass player is a non-Avett brother and thus rather dorky. The banjo & guitar players (Scott & Seth Avett of course) are who the show is about.

And just for fun, here is a pic of my sweet girl who likes to sit on hot laundry:

I have a crush on a painting.

Link to a blog about my brother, who I want to be famous.

His art is now decorating SOB. South of Beale, a new "gastro pub" on South Main.

http://ilovememphisblog.com/2009/09/23/i-have-a-crush-on-a-painting/

I wear my sunglasses at night.

Hopefully I can handle these. My history with sunglasses has been extremely non-commital. I have encountered the following problems with sunglasses throughout the years:

1.) They like to swim in the ocean.

2.) They like to sit in the driver's seat of my car where I rest my bum.

3.) They like to rest their arms a bit too firmly behind my ears.

So here is the debut of my new, golden delicious beauties complete with leather bar and arm covers. Newly released I might add, not even yet available at Sunglass Hut; retail value $210. I would rather not disclose the wholesale price which I paid as you might be J and in turn, harass me or my spouse for high fashion optical discounts as long as we both shall live.

Aren't they splendid?

Chip.

I dined with a celebrity today. We ate lunch at a local elementary school cafeteria amongst kindergardeners dressed as mice. There was deep, energizing conversation over the weather, our mutual love for chick-fil-a, the wonder of california, how he cannot tell his twin nephews apart, and how his father, my dentist, could truly be a 'life coach'. It was refreshing to catch up.

Name: Silas Gaither, aka "Chip".

• Mr. HHS '96
• we'll just call him a childhood family friend
• contestant of reality tv show, Survivor: Africa edition

Here are some of his works. Enjoy.