california

My cousin is so hilarious:

"just thought you'd get a kick out of how green i am: when i was checking out the brackets, i thought 18-32 Female Black meant african american girls and so i kept skipping past it all thinking there would be a 18-32 Female Yellow/Asian category. yep, i have no clue sometimes..."

HAHA. Ellen un-nee cracks me up.

So I won. And technically I can say I'm national champion. Though these days that does or does not make it significant, because without the seeding for the next step, it doesn't mean that you had to beat everyone to be the champ. Which in my case was true, as I didn't get my chance at the grudge match with my longstanding rival. The irony was, this was the year that I actually felt ready to beat her. Oh well, I'll get another chance soon enough.

But if people bow out, there's not too much you can do about it. And all in all, I'm happy with the way I fought, and pleased with my progress. I felt good, and I was able to try some of the new things I've been working on. It was good for ringtime, and always good to socialize and see my friends...everyone from Boston, the medics, TC, old teammates, refs...that's one of my favorite parts about tournaments.

Jr gave quite possibly the best pep talk he's given in a long time. I don't depend on them anymore like I used to, but part of me does treasure the tradition we have of the night before pep talk. I realized on this trip that looking back, I've come a long way this past year. Chin kept commenting that I've become "tough and mean" since I left Boston, and I guess it's a good and bad thing.

It was also a good opportunity to be home. One of the few times my dad has seen my compete, and so good to sleep in my own bed and eat my mom's cooking. To meet up with old friends...heard the story from Steve and Linda, together - absolutely hilarious!...finally got to meet up with Peter, it was so good to catch up.

I really miss California. Times like this I really wonder why I'm still on the East Coast. From the moment I stepped off the plane and felt the sunshine, I started wondering...I mentioned it briefly to Sr while we were sitting around, and he promptly flipped out with "you can't do that, you're indentured!" Haha. I see it how it is. But I think they'd miss me if I left.

I'm entirely too tired to finish this post...but now back to NY life. Boy is it past my bedtime...