Not quite pom-poms and divets

I’m taking a trial month of Taekwondo — which shouldn’t surprise any of you who've been kicked in the head by me. I’ve always been interested in Martial Arts, probably from playing too much Mortal Kombat or watching too many episodes of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues as a kid. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that Taekwondo combines two of my favorite sports: cheerleading and golf.

Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Well, for you long-time WATJ readers, you know that I often do.

Taekwondo is a lot like cheerleading for a few obvious reasons. There’s the high hicks and yelling, not to mention the arm movements and routine. In later belts, there's even a tumbling aspect (flips and such) that contributes to the “shouldn’t I be wearing a pleated skirt for this?” feeling.

Comparing Taekwondo to golf is probably more of a stretch for the rest of you. If you've ever played the links with my dad, you know that golf is “99% mental.” This means that it takes focus and concentration and strength of purpose — just like the martial arts. Golf and Taekwondo also require discipline and follow-through. You can have all the elements of a perfect swing or a perfect round-house, but your ball's not going anywhere or that board's not breaking unless you follow-through.

And, of course, Taekwondo also combines the inherent violence of both golf and cheerleading. If you’ve ever done either with my family, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Halloween Makes a Home

It's only 7:30 of my first Halloween in my new house and I’m out of candy. A neighbor had given me the estimate of 100 kids from previous years and I find it hard to believe that I actually saw that many princess, Spider-Men, ghosts, Power Rangers and etcetera in only 90 minutes. But, if the empty bowl in the living room is any indication, I clearly did.

Of course, I did make the beginner’s mistake at the start of my evening. Rather than handing out the candy and placing one sucker in each treat-seekers sack, bucket or other vessel, I was allowing the first couple of kids to grab their own candy. And grab they did. Perhaps because I had two types of sucker (Tootsie Pops and Blow Pops) as well as an assortment of flavors the children assumed they were being treated to a buffet of sugary goodness. Or, perhaps, their parental units did not instill within them the philosophy of take only one unless otherwise offered — and then the truly polite thing would be to decline the second helping.

The evening overall, I believe, was a success for the monsters, athletes and myself. They got their candy. I got to take part in the natural evolutionlary step of the holiday. The cat got to hide in the basement (as is her habit whenever anything out of the ordinary occurs around here). The rabbit — well, she didn't really seem to care one way or another about all the activity on the front porch. But I like to think that a good time was had by all.

Where has the slacker been?

Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’ve been a slacker, though I have been lax in the maintenance of my blog. I mean, c'mon. I only made two posts before I allowed this new toy of mine to be sidelined.
But that’s all going to change.
...
Stop looking at me like that. I mean it. I’m going to be diligent in my blog posting. At least once a week. Maybe more.
...

Stop laughing. I’m serious, here.
Good. Thank you.
Anyway, as I was saying. I fully intend to post at least weekly to this sacred space on the web for the ease of my friends to keep apprised of what’s up with Joy or, y'know, just so I have a place to rant when I need to. And, since you're reading this, I have people to rant to.
Isn’t the Internet swell?

Welcome to the family

There’s been an addition to my family. My parents have adopted a new kitten. Her name is Morsel and she was abandoned at the barn where my sister keeps her horse. She -- the kitten, not my sister -- is this itty bitty ball of love and fluff that I and my siblings have all threatened to steal from my parents. She's just so darn cute.

Of course, I couldn’t really take Morsel home with me as Rebecca, my cat, would probably not like it. She’s a bit of a chicken and it’s taken her two years to get used to the Cassandra, the rabbit. I can’t even imagine what she’ do with a creature who would eventually grow up to be her same size.

Here goes

Alrighty. It has been suggested by some of my nearest and dearest friends that I should venture into the world of “blogging.” I’ve been hesitant in the past for reasons I’m not even sure I understand, but I guess it really is a good way for folks to best be apprised of the various goings-on, happenings and such of my life.

So. Here goes.