GUESS WHO'S BACK?!

OMG, it feels like a different lifetime since I last updated this blog. It hasn't really been all that long, but oh how they days have been long. I've been busy cramming my head so full of junk (yah Accounting, I'm talking to you), that I really haven't worked out at all. This is terrible because I actually depend on my workouts for stress relief, but the gym's been closed and I really haven't had the time or inclination to run. I've literally been in a study coma for the past 2 weeks, and it paid off. I'm not sure how I've done officially yet, but no exam beat me up and took my lunch money so I'm calling it a successful finals season.

In completely unrelated news, I was talking to my best friend MJ via email this past Monday, when she asked me if I was going to try and compete in the NASKA competitions this time around. I was honestly blown away by that question. I hadn't even remotely considered NASKA.

Let me explain. NASKA is a governing organization for a series of tournaments. It's basis is karate, but it's open to all martial arts- primarily for striking ones (kung-fu, taekwondo, tang soo do, etc). It's known for being the main arena for "extreme martial arts", marital arts combined with gymnastics, tricking, and dance. When I was around 13, I thought it was the coolest thing and begged my parents to let me try and take gymnastics to compete in NASKA. They told me no, and I gave it up when I went through my "traditional is the best" phase in high school. Apparently MJ listens to me when I bore her with my taekwondo talk, and she wondered if that's what I wanted to try and compete. I said no, I want to do USAT. I still want to do USAT. USAT is the way to being a state, national, world, Olympic, etc champion and while I may never reach the upper echelons, it's a good way to get my name out in the taekwondo community. But...NASKA is fun. NASKA is a great way to get people interested in martial arts because it "looks cool" and I've always wanted a reason to learn to do a lay out. Anyway, I'm still not sure if I'll compete in NASKA. But now I'm thinking about it. I'll definitely focus first on just getting back into competition shape because right now even my signature spinning hook kick is a hot mess. I only have splits on my left leg. Work needs to be done, and badly. But maybe, just maybe a year and a half from now or so, I'll go for NASKA.