Monopoly, Moving and Martial Arts

To explain: Monopoly refers to the board game, moving is a way of saying we moved lounges (hard to fully explain; it will make sense when I get to that), and martial arts (I almost wrote marital arts. That would make for a rather different post, don't you say?) means, of course, hapkido. Now that that's out the way, I can get to my day.

I woke up at around 7:30, and soon EJ got up. We then, somehow, started to play Monopoly, and I ended up losing after about an hour after I got caught up in a hotel. After that, though, I decided that I'd had enough Monopoly for a while, and I settled into some Battlefield Heroes (prepare for some going on about the game which will make barely any sense if you've never played the game). Now, I went on an utter rampage; it was the best 2 or so hours (from about 10:30 to 12:30, though I could be wrong) I've spent on the game in my whole length of playing it. I got another 50-0 game (with John, of course); and I also won a game when it was 2 Nationals (I'm a Nat) against 4 to 6 Royals (some quit after we started; we were doing very well). I got something like 5500 points, and considering that 1000 is slightly above average and 2000 is quite good, you'll understand that 5500 is bloody awesome.

At lunch time, though, I figured I'd pack Battlefield Heroes in for the day, and I went out to play yet another game of Monopoly, after being convinced by EJ to play another game. This one was interrupted halfway through, however, as we (Mum, EJ and I; Dad's still at sea, and should be until Friday, I think) all had to get the lounge in the Kid Zone (I'm sure I've gone through this; it's just like a mini-loungeroom for me and EJ) through to the garage. We had to take off the cushion, because that was way too heavy, and then manoeuvre the actual frame of the lounge through the side door (which involved rearranging furniture and much twisting). Once that was done, we took the lounge cushion and put it back onto the frame in the garage. After that, we got about 20 minutes of Monopoly in until the new lounge came; although they had workers who put it in for us. We had to take the wrapping off and place the lounge into place after they had left, though it wasn't particularly strenuous. We thus got back to Monopoly, which sorta just ended in a draw after we both stopped playing after it got boring (there were houses, but cash just kept being transferred back and forth.). That took us until 2 or 3, and so for the rest of the day, I just watched some TV and surfed the net. And at 7, we left for hapkido.

It was my first lesson under the orange belt, and naturally I was rapt and ready to learn (I'm even alliterating in the actual posts now... though I must admit it works better this way). Shirisha was there, and it turns out she was on Monday too. Hmm. I was partnered with a white belt, whose name is Maudhri, or something to that effect; I am awful with names. While I was doing striking and such, Grandmaster Geoff came over and showed me some of the orange belt techniques. And it was like being let into some sort of secret club (bear with me here): From the outside, it looks like all of their rituals and that type of thing are utterly incomprehensible, and you couldn't possibly work out how to do it. But, you get accepted into that club, and suddenly it all becomes clear. It was like that. I learnt the basics of some of the strikes, kicks, self-defence and the side fall. I really like the orange belts techniques: they're fun! When I got home, I blogged for a while. But not much about today, so here I am.

And as there are no comments, I end with this paragraph (hey, sometimes I like to change things up a bit when I'm doing the closing paragraph. It's good to avoid being repetitive.). Orange belt is really good; I like being considered to have at least some experience when I'm out at class (and believe me; you see a big difference between white and orange belts. Or at least I did.).

Hey, a fairly long post!,
AB